New Threat on the Horizon: The Fighting Festival!
by mcooper767
Summary: Goku, Naruto, Ichigo, Yusuke, Natsu, Edward Elric, Luffy, and Aang are coming home six months after a cold confrontation with Kuuzer on the icy planet of Arulok to look for the seven-star Dragonball! By collecting all seven of the Dragonballs, they will be able to fix the barriers between life and death and save the universe. However, they have some competition waiting for them.
1. The Saiyan

**I Own Nothing**

**You probably want to read the Expedition first, and Dark Tournament before that, but if not, go ahead.**

**Dragonball: After DBZ, before DBGT, but all characters are as old as they were in the start of the Buu saga, and Tsunade is about 35 years old like Goku because a poll that I posted on various anime sites wanted them together. Thanks, guys. Anyway, Trunks' mother is different. Vegeta will hook up with her in this part, and it will explain Trunks' godlike sword abilities. Goku's max state right now is SSJ3. Goku has his tail.**

**Naruto Shippuden: Post-Kazekage rescue arc. Gaara returns to Earth, and he is not very happy with the Fire Nation.**

**Bleach: Ichigo's form is during the Arrancar arc. Currently, he can freely control his entire Hollow mask thanks to chi control training endured on Arulok. He killed the ninth and tenth Espada, and he picked up Duel Masters (Yugioh) on Arulok. It becomes important in this story.**

**Yu Yu Hakusho: Post-Sensui Seven Arc, but before the Three Kings Arc.**

**The Last Airbender: Near the end of the series. Zuko is teaching Aang firebending and Toph is teaching Aang earthbending.**

**Fairy Tail: Fighting Festival Arc. Gajeel, Juvia, and Wendy are already members of the guild, and Carla does not exist because I hate Carla with a burning passion. The Grand Magic Games happen before Tenrou Island and Edolas.**

**One Piece: After the equivalent to the Sabaody Archipelago Arc. Luffy can go to Gear Three effortlessly.**

**Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood: Start of the Homunculus conflict. Edward and Winry are a couple.**

**Last time: After an icy showdown with Kuuzer on the frozen planet of Arulok, Goku and his seven students decided to stay there and train vigorously until the middle of June! But it was not just Goku training them, his students taught each other and their master a few techniques as well! It is now June eleventh. The search for the seven-star Dragonball begins in five days, and the Z-Fighters are going home.**

"Kamehameha!" the short, tan-skinned alchemist with long, golden-blonde hair and big, golden eyes shouted, letting out an eruption of blue and white energy from his hands at his tall pirate friend standing in the thick snow.

"You're gonna have to try better than that, Edward!" Luffy shouted. "Gomu Gomu no Gatling _Spreadshot!_" Luffy stretched both of his arms in a furious flash of fists and palm strikes, firing a volley of purple chi from his hands.

Edward whipped around. "Eighth pillar, Luffy!" Edward said, easily blocking and deflecting Luffy's strikes.

"You fired a Kamehameha at me!" Luffy said. A wide grin spread across his face as he lunged at his friend.

Edward dodged and grabbed a bunch of Luffy's short, black hair. "How about this?"

Luffy slapped at his hand. "Hey! No fair!"

Luffy's eyes widened as the back of his head hit the snow. He stood up, wiping the snow off his weighted Turtle Style uniform. He looked into the bright, teal sky, watching Edward and a pink-haired young man of average height clash in a lightning fast dogfight. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" The spiky haired wizard shouted, puffing up his chest and spitting out fire.

Edward disappeared, dodging the attack due to his speed. "Nice try, Natsu!" Edward said, reappearing at Natsu's side with his leg level with Natsu's head.

Edward let his kick fly. His foot passed right through him.

"Kamehameha!" Natsu shouted, firing a blue and white torrent of energy through the alchemist. "Another afterimage?"

A rubber fist slammed into the side of Natsu's head, sending him spiraling toward the ground. "Don't forget about me!" Luffy said, spiking his aura and firing a volley of purple energy waves at his two sparring partners.

Natsu and Edward looked up at the volley and dived out of the way, returning their own.

A large gust of wind deflected the waves. A thin, lean, Oriental teenager of average height with blue, arrow-shaped tattoos on his bald head and arms smirked at them from the air. He raised both of his hands, raising two columns of snow. "Two on one isn't fair." He whipped both of his hands down, sending an avalanche toward his friends.

"Talk to Luffy about being fair, Aang!" Edward clapped his hands together, sparking blue lightning around him. A large wall of mud blocked the avalanche. "Show-off," Natsu said.

"You're just mad that I can use alchemy _without_ a transmutation circle," Edward said, sticking out his tongue.

Red energy formed on Natsu's hands. "You wanna see angry? I have a couple spells for that now."

Edward opened a fairly sized hole in the mud wall. "You fire, I'll move."

Natsu nodded and squeezed his face through the hole. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu shouted, firing a concentrated beam of fire at the floating Avatar.

"Spirit Gun!" A thick, white beam of spiritual energy clashed with Natsu's fire ray, bring Edward to a halt.

"Yusuke?" Edward looked toward the sky, seeing his fair-skinned friend with black, short, gelled hair. "Natsu! Keep going!"

"Eh Tehe!" Natsu said, straining his throat to keep firing more.

A flash of black passed in front of Yusuke, taking him away from his beam struggle. "Damn it, Ichigo!" Yusuke shouted at the tall, fair-skinned young man also wearing the weighted uniform tackling him to the ground. "I almost had him!"

"Oh well," Ichigo said, shaking the snow out of his spiky, orange hair. His brown eyes turned to a light blue color as his black aura spiked around him.

The ground in the hilly, deserted field of snow acting as the battlefield started to shake. The six heroes of Earth stopped their match. "What is that?" Aang said, hearing the sounds of hundreds of footsteps coming their way on all sides.

Yusuke closed his eyes, seeing the feint outlines of thousands of the same blonde, spiky-haired ninja race toward them down the hills surrounding them. "Shit!" he and Ichigo exclaimed simultaneously.

Thousands of blue-eyed shadow clones in weighted uniforms emerged from the hills, swarming the field like locust. "Get ready!" the clones shouted. "Naruto Uzumaki has arrived to kick your butts!"

"Main Deck: First Draw!" Six cards flew out of Ichigo's pocket and into his hands. _Dark Hole!_ Ichigo placed the green card with an illustration of a black hole face-up on the ground. He hopped back as the card grew to the size of a twin bed.

Small black holes opened beneath the clones, sucking all of them inside. Their creator was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?" Natsu said, frantically looking around.

"Up here!" Naruto shouted from above them, preforming a series of hand signs. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Luffy swallowed as one hundred more clones appeared in the sky. Luffy sloppily preformed the same hand signals. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he said, creating twenty clones.

His other friends followed suit. Each party gave out a rallying war cry and charged, turning the barren wasteland into a war zone.

Yellow chi started to rain down on the clones. "How dare you start without me!" three of the same voice said.

The seven pupils looked up, seeing their master and two of his clones waiting for them in the sky. "Crap!" Natsu exclaimed. "Goku's gonna cream us!"

"I'm not here to fight you," Goku said, dropping to the ground. "It's time to go."

His students looked ecstatic. "I cannot wait to go home!" Aang exclaimed. "Is the ship here?"

Goku nodded. "Let's thank Sepharia and Arngeir first," he said.

"We can't forget Icarus," Aang said.

Goku burst into the air, followed by his students. "We should probably get something to eat before we go," he said, feeling his stomach rumble.

"We had breakfast two hours ago," Ichigo said. "There's no way you can be-"

"Dude," Yusuke cut in. "He's always hungry."

They dropped to the ground in front of the gates of the Royal City, now a large city filled with people from all over the planet: Nords, Light Elves, Dark Elves, and the Orc. Tall, curvy skyscrapers now made a majority of the buildings in the large city the size of Chicago, but with more simplistic technology. A large banner in front of the black stone gates read: _Uknarik, Arulok Yoh Lok, Kha'asfaa!_

"Farewell, heroes of Arulok," Edward read.

Two tall, burly light elves in white and gold armor with spears blocked their entry into the main walk of the city, leading to the palace eight miles down the road. "Jii Pek," they said, opening the gates.

The eight Earthlings strolled through the town, getting the admiration and envy from many people in the city. "Edward!" a squeaky voice shouted. "It's me, Kyare! Come back! I love you!"

"Go," Edward said, pushing all of his friends, He looked over his shoulder, watching a scrawny light elf with long, stringy, blonde hair and brown eyes race toward him. "Damn it!" he whispered. "Move faster!"

His friends heard the venom in his voice and disappeared- fazed out- in front of the crowds of people watching them pass. They reappeared seconds later in front of the golden palace gates. No matter how many times Naruto saw the outside of the palace, it looked more magnificent every time. The castle inside of the four, red, shining walls lining the outside was built entirely out of black marble stone. Eight pillars lined the size of the enormous palace, each with a emerald cupola. A ninth pillar, bigger than all of the others, stemmed from the rounded, golden top of the palace with a giant sapphire cupola at the top. With the ninth cupola, the palace was easily the tallest structure in all of the Royal City. Four of the top guard dressed in gray plated armor nodded at them as they entered the gates. Lining the walkway were strange flowers and bright, blue shrubbery. Black marble fountains sat on both sides of the front of the palace, each decorated with a stone dragon spitting the fountain water out of its mouth. "Look," Luffy said, barely seeing the top of a few blades of purple grass emerging from the snow.

They walked up the long, checkered stairway up to the large, white doors with the golden handles. Two guards in white armor greeted them and slowly opened the heavy doors. The inside was as stunning as the outside. A red carpet with yellow tassels going down a majority of the length of the royal blue, marble floor led up a short staircase through the middle of two thrones, each made of golden metals and red furs. The golden walls and tall, white ceiling with the giant, golden chandeliers holding a large number of small torch sconces illuminated the room. The queen, a tall, curvy light elf with long, wavy, blonde hair and dark green eyes grinned as they walked toward the throne. "Queen Sepharia, Princess Inala," Goku said. "We're ready."

Sepharia nodded and stood up from her throne, fastening her white crown encrusted in sapphires and rubies. Her daughter, sitting in the other throne, stood up as well. She was shorter than her mother with a tanned skin tone, violet eyes, and long, wavy, platinum-white hair. She also inherited her mother's curvy figure and her sense of fashion, as both mother and daughter were dressed in purple royal garb. "Collect your things from the room and meet us in the courtyard," Inala said, walking out with her mother to the courtyard.

Goku and his students rushed into the guest rooms, quickly packing their extra clothes, training equipment, armor, and their masks into large sacks. Ichigo pulled his cellphone out of his bedside table and turned it on for the first time in six months. "Thirty percent," he said. "My dad is not going to be pleased with six months of phone bills." He took his other five Duel Masters decks out of the drawers and placed them in a small card box, a gift from the card shop for being the best employee and best student. He had to duel for it, and he won. He double-checked the entire room, confirming that he had everything in his large bag.

Goku placed his white and gold blessed armor and his white katana inside his bag, leaving only the possessed Dragon Priest mask and his enchanted,white Power Pole with golden veins out of the bag. He examined the mask one last time; whatever spirit is in that mask is dormant, sleeping, not reaching out to grab him. He placed it on top of the armor. He remembered what Mehrunes said about the enchantment on his bow staff; maybe Goku could still summon some otherworldly creature to battle for him. He had never tried it, he wasn't too sure about what would happen. "I'll test it out when we get back to Earth," Goku said, placing his shortened bow staff in the bag and heading out with his students.

They walked out into the courtyard, shielding their eyes from the snow kicked up by the rocket thrusters of the large, black, circular spacecraft with eight circular windows arranged in a circle. "Drem!" A scaly, reptilian voice shouted, covering the eight Dragonborn in golden dust.

Aang walked over to a wooden stable where a six foot tall, adolescent dragon with shiny, blue scales and sharp, purple ridges in three columns going from the end of his long tail to the top of his head. His wide, green eyes stared at the ship with curiosity and fear. Aang rubbed his soft, red underbelly while cutting the rope leash around his long neck. The three, golden claws on his four legs curled, as if he was prepared to attack the black behemoth in front of him. His small, golden horns on the sides of the top front of his scalp had grown longer and his voice became deeper, intimidating the castle staff. He folded his giant, blue wings and snorted, blowing smoke out of his nostrils. "It's alright, Icarus," Aang said. "Do Krent Meyz," Aang said in the dragon's language, making Icarus follow him.

A hatch at the bottom of the ship opened and a ladder slowly descended from the hole. "Dovahkiin," an old man with a long, thick, white beard in a gray hooded robe said, slowly walking up to the Earthlings from the bottom of the ship. "May your heart always be strong like the Dovah and may your path always be clear."

Goku bowed to the old man. "Thank you, Arngeir-" A red drop of blood dripped from Goku's nose. "Not again," he said.

Arngeir reached into a pocket of his robe, pulling out a clean handkerchief. "You might want to consider keeping one of these on you," he said, handing it to Goku. "Zenithar knows that I used them."

Goku tilted his head back, feeling very dizzy. He held the handkerchief to his nostril. "Thank you."

"There is enough food in the ship to last you for five days," Sepharia said.

"Don't scarf it down in one," Inala said sternly.

Six women emerged from the palace wearing similar attire to the queen and princess. "You should recognize these women," Sepharia said.

"Selena," Ichigo said, walking up to the pale vampire with long, black hair and glowing, red eyes holding an umbrella over her head.

"You'll come back, right?" Selena said. "I know about you and Lucy, but you'll still visit me, right?"

Ichigo nodded. "When I can, at least. Getting here in the first place wasn't so easy."

A tall, curvy woman with small, rounded ears, blue eyes, and short, black hair walked up to Yusuke, standing six inches taller than he was. She had a muscular build, made obvious by the veins in her arms popping out. "When you defeated Zarbon, you saved my whole army. I'm going to have to thank you for that."

Yusuke swallowed as a wolfish grin spread across the officer's face. "Who are you?"

"The name is Lydia," she said. "It's a name you won't forget."

"Hi, Delphine!" Aang said, approaching the tall, lean, young woman with long, straight, blonde hair and blue eyes.

"How are you enjoying your Blades armor?" she asked.

"It's great!" Aang said. "With Goku's training, I can move a lot faster in it."

"Good," Delphine said. "I think you'll enjoy the little gift we have for you."

"What little gift?" Aang asked.

"Brelyna," Natsu said, manipulating ice, lightning, and fire at the same time. "Check this out."

Brelyna, a tall, thin, Dark Elf with long, black hair, pointed ears and orange eyes gasped at Natsu's display of magic. "How are you doing that?!" the young elf said excitedly.

"I combined my chi control training with dual casting," Natsu said. "Now I can do up to five spells at a time."

"Really?" Brelyna folded her arms. "Show me."

Natsu disappeared. Fire, ice, and lightning swirled around where he stood and small rocks raised from the ground. "Invisibility, fire wall, ice storm, lightning circumference, and minimum levitation all at the same time," Natsu said, reappearing.

"Wow," Brelyna said, feeling admiration for her Earthling peer. "Only six months ago you could only control fire, and now you're doing what the professors can only dream of!"

"I wish I had time to rub it into J'zargo's face," Natsu said, making her giggle.

"You've come to say goodbye too, Aela?" Luffy asked, walking up to the tall, thin, but shapely woman with long, brown hair, fair skin, yellow eyes, and green warpaint in three jagged lines across her face.

"Ah, yes," she said solemnly. "It's sad to see such brave, young warriors like myself leave so soon."

"It was fun hunting with you and the others," Luffy said. "Especially from my ship."

"Edward Elric," a tall, curvaceous light elf with pale, golden skin and long, dark blonde hair said, scanning the area with her gray eyes. "There you are." She walked up to him, firmly shaking his hand. "I am Elenwen, and I am here on behalf on the scientific community of Arulok," she said cheerily, sounding like a college cheerleader.

"What did I do?" Edward asked.

"We wanted to thank you for the work that you and Ichigo Kurosaki put into teaching and scroll writing at our scholar's academy over the past six months," she said. "Your knowledge of science and his knowledge in math will help us more than you know, so I would like to give you a gift."

"You're not giving Ichigo a gift too?" Edward asked.

"He already has a farewell partner," Elenwen said.

"What are you talking about?" Edward asked.

"On this planet, to say farewell to a friend, the person of the opposite sex that feels the most gratitude toward the one leaving will make lip contact with him or her," the Light Elf only two years older than him said, grinning deviously as Edward started to sweat. "Refusal means the death of both partners."

"But I have a girlfriend," Edward said. "Don't they have a rule for that?"

"No," Elenwen said. "Besides, it's just a custom."

"On Earth, it means-"

"I know," Elenwen said.

"So can we not-"

"I always thought you were so handsome," she started to twirl his hair in her finger, "professor."

_How am I going to get out of this?!_ Edward thought to himself.

"We will know say farewell to our heroes," Sepharia said. "These warriors fought valiantly against the tyrant who threatened this planet's existence! They are our allies, our _friends_, and we shall bid them farewell as such!"

Sepharia stood next to Goku and Inala grabbed Naruto by his collar. Naruto's eyes widened as Inala drew him close to her. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Just wait your turn," Inala said.

"Aela, present your gift to Luffy," Sepharia said.

"What is it?" Luffy asked, watching Aela lean in. "Is it a orna-"

Aela kissed him in the lips mid-sentence, making Luffy's eyes fly open. Aela stepped back, looking quizzically at the dumbfounded pirate in front of him. "Are you alright?"

A wide, stupid grin spread across Luffy's face. "This vacation is awesome," he said while giggling, taking his bag of belongings and going inside the ship.

Natsu wasn't paying attention. He laughed to himself as he imagined Gray's angry face when he is the one being frozen by Natsu's ice spells. "Brelyna," Sepharia said. "Present Natsu with your gift."

Brelyna tapped Natsu's chin up, making him look into her eyes. "What's going on?"

Brelyna quickly kissed him. "Thanks for all your help." She stepped back.

Natsu blushed. "Well then," he said. He looked in the window, seeing Luffy with his wide, dumb grin. "I'd better go inside and see what Luffy's smiling about," he said. "I hope I can come back and show you some cool magic." He threw his bag through the hatch. "Bye, Brelyna!" Natsu climbed into the ship.

"I would like to present Aang with a gift now," Delphine said.

Aang swallowed. "I can't accept-"

Edward covered his mouth. "Just do it!" he said. "It's a deadly custom, if you get my drift!"

Aang looked up, squeezing his eyes shut and kissing Delphine. _This is too weird!_ Aang thought to himself, quickly pulling away from her. He cringed. _Katara! _He rushed into the ship with his belongings. He popped back out, bowed to Delphine and the royalty, and disappeared into the ship again.

"Elenwen," Sepharia said, "if you would be so kind as to-"

Elenwen drew Edward into a deep kiss, smashing her face against his. She pulled back, giggling at Edward's look of sheer terror on his face. "I'm good, I know."

"I'm _dead_," Edward said. "Winry will kill me."

"Why don't you live here with me?" Elenwen said. "We can say goodbye any time you want."

Edward fazed out, reappearing inside of the ship with his belongings. "Can we just hug it out?" Ichigo asked Selena.

"Selena, your turn," Sepharia said.

"No," Selena said, holding Ichigo still with her vampire strength as she kissed him for at least ten seconds.

Ichigo stumbled back. "I better go inside the ship where I need to go in the ship because that's where I bye!" He quickly grabbed his belongings and raced into the ship, hyperventilating with Edward.

"My turn, Sepharia," Lydia said, lifting Yusuke in the weighted clothing into the air and furiously kissing him.

Yusuke felt her tongue forcefully push its way into his mouth, licking the roof of his mouth and the inside of his cheeks. She threw Yusuke to the ground, heartily laughing as he climbed to his feet. He silently climbed into the ship with his bags. "How was it?" Luffy asked.

"I was scared and aroused at the same time," Yusuke said.

"Would you ever do it again?" Natsu asked.

"Hell no." Yusuke's face turned green. "I hope there's a bathroom in here."

"Inala," Sepharia said. "You may bestow your gift onto Naruto."

"Wait!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Stay still," she said bluntly, kissing him very quickly. "Now go away."

Naruto rushed onto the ship. "This planet is so weird!"

Sepharia grabbed the back of Goku's head, kissing him roughly. "Mom," Inala said after ten seconds.

Sepharia released the Saiyan. "Be thankful," she said. "It's not everyday you get kissed by royalty."

"Yeah," Goku said, quickly bowing. "It's time to go. Thank you for all you've done."

"Do come back!" Sepharia said, watching Goku lead Icarus into the ship.

Goku and his friends waved goodbye as golden dust sprayed onto Aang's window. The ship took off, flying higher and higher into the sky until it was nothing but a tiny dot.

"I feel bad for lying," Aela said.

"Why?" Elenwen said. "They were hot! Edward's a good kisser too."

"I thought it was just a high elf thing," Brelyna said. "I really thought that-"

"Welcome to adulthood," Delphine said.

"But Aang is only fourteen in human years!" Brelyna said.

"If that's what she's into, don't chastise her," Lydia said. "Personally, I would have destroyed Yusuke."

"I'm going back home," Selena said. "You guys are weird."

"I'll be waiting in the throne room, mother," Inala said, briskly walking away.

"Your highness, what are you looking at?" Lydia asked.

"I'm waiting for the ship to crash back here," Sepharia said. "I liked Goku."

"Let's just agree that unless it's super serious, we never go back there," Aang said.

"Agreed," the rest of the boys said simultaneously.

Goku sneezed again, nearly hitting his head on the console.

"When you get to Australia, see a doctor," Edward said. "The nosebleeds are getting worse by the day."

"No, it's nothing," Goku said. "I'm sure of it."

Five and a half days in space passed uneventfully. They passed by the moon, headed towards Earth's eastern hemisphere. "What time is it?" Naruto asked.

"It is five PM in Melbourne," Goku said, strapping himself into his chair and pulling his belongings close to him. "I'll see you guys in September."

His students crammed themselves into their pods. Icarus curled himself upon the navigation panel as a clear, airtight seal closed Aang off from his friends.

Goku waved goodbye to his students as his pod detached from the ship, entering Earth's atmosphere. Goku looked toward Natsu's pod, seeing the motion-sick mage slumped over his panel as he burst toward the western hemisphere. Goku's nose started to bleed again as he felt the pod's rocket thruster taking over, slowly lowering him the last fifty feet into the middle of the outback. Goku opened the pod's seal, stumbling out of his spacecraft and onto the red, dry terrain of Australia. Goku held the handkerchief to his nose, but the blood kept pouring out turning the handkerchief red. He slung his bag of belongings over his shoulder and looked up into the sky. He grinned , watching seven streaks of light move in separate directions. Black spots joined his vision soon after. He slowly walked through the red clay to a Kangaroo yielding sign and stopped walking. "What is happening to-"

A sharper pain than he had ever felt before stabbed at his entire chest. He fell to his knees, clutching his heart.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed, seeing everything double.

The sounds of a motor vehicle caught his attention. Two blonde, fair-skinned men wearing full sets of outback gear in a Jeep stopped in front of the sign. "Crikey!" the driver exclaimed, hopping out of the car.

"What's wrong, mate?" his twin said.

"A man's having a heart attack!" his twin answered. "Help me get him into the back!"

"No," Goku said weakly. "I'm fine-" he coughed, spraying blood all over his shirt. "On second thought, take me to Melbourne's hospital."

"Melbourne?" the driver said, placing Goku's belongings right next to him. "That's a way off. There's one in Melton-"

"Please," Goku said. "I need to get to Melbourne."

"Whatever you say, mate," the driver said.

Goku felt an overwhelming wave of dizziness before he blacked out.

* * *

"What does it look like, doctor?" the man who drove Goku to the hospital said.

Goku opened his eyes, wincing at the dull, achy pain in his head. "Where am I?"

"You're at Epworth hospital," the driver's twin said, sitting in a black chair and looking over Goku laying in a hospital bed with green hospital clothing. His belongings sat in a chair next to the bed, and the driver was standing while talking to the curly haired, tall, African doctor.

"It looked like a bacterial infection that led to Myocarditis," the doctor said in an Australian accent. "That's what our catheter showed us."

"How can you get rid of it?" Goku said hoarsely.

"Please, do not strain your voice," the doctor said. "I am Doctor Nana Akentan, and your nurse, Karin Kazuyama, should be here soon to replace your Saline pouch."

Goku looked at the IV's in both of his arms. "So how do you get rid of it?"

"We cannot get rid of it, but the infection that caused it," Dr. Akentan said. "The bacteria in your blood sample puzzled us; it was unlike anything we've seen before. Until we can get you some antibacterial drugs to kill off whatever was in there, you're going to have to take it easy for a while."

"How long will I be here?" Goku asked. "I _really_ hate hospitals."

"Considering how fast you're recovering, you should be out in a day." Nana chuckled as Goku's hospital mate on the other side of the curtain made airplane noises with her lips. "Please, keep it down," he said. "Your roommate is very young and very ill."

"How did she end up here?" Goku asked.

"I'm not allowed to give out that information," the doctor said.

"It's alright," Goku said.

"I'll check on you in an hour," the doctor said. "Goodnight, Goku."

The doctor left the room. "By the way," the driver said. "I'm Ollie, and my brother's Wally."

"Pleased to meet you," Goku said, looking out the window and at the starry night sky over Melbourne's buildings.

"And you're... Goku?" Ollie said. "A bit of a strange name. Do you mind telling us a bit about yourself?"

"A man wearing a two hundred pound shirt with that head of spiky hair and a super-realistic monkey tail has gotta have some cool story," Wally said.

"You wouldn't believe it," Goku said, laughing weakly.

"That only makes us more interested," Ollie said.

"Story time!" Goku's roommate said in a high, squeaky voice, sounding like she couldn't be more than five.

"It's a long story," Goku said. "I was born on Planet Vegeta-"

"You're an alien?" Ollie asked.

"Of course not," Wally said.

Goku's tail revealed itself out of his clothing. It moved around like it was a part of him, making Wally and Ollie's skin crawl. "Oh my stars!" Ollie said.

"Anyway, I was sent here as an infant to destroy this planet," Goku said. He told his story, starting from his meeting with Bulma to the Saiyan conflict. Wally looked at the clock. "It's midnight," he said. "We should probably be getting home."

"No, mate!" Ollie said. "I wanna hear more! Besides, we're in college! We have no bedtime."

"But we have Biophysics tomorrow!" Wally said.

"At three in the afternoon," Ollie said.

The Australian brothers were both shushed by the listener on the other side of the curtain. "Go on," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

"You guys remember Vegeta?" Goku asked.

"When I was a kid, I remember seeing the newscast," Wally said.

"The little spiky-haired twit and his mate threw a freakin' wobbly in East City," Ollie said, "but the army got them."

"Wrong," Goku said. "Like Raditz, I defeated them too." Goku continued his story, taking them to the Cell conflict. "I was able to destroy him before he could access his final form," Goku said. "I took him to the remotest area of space and died with him."

"I can believe that you defeated Piccolo, and Vegeta, and Cell, but I absolutely cannot believe that you died and came back to life," Wally said.

"My friends used the Dragonballs to wish me back," Goku said. "They can grant any wish, like I've said before." Goku skipped the Buu conflict. Shenron made it so that they wouldn't remember. He continued with his more recent adventures, from his assignment from Yenma through the adventures on Arulok. Three hours had passed, and the door to the shared hospital room opened.

"Honey," a soft, mature, female voice said as the sound of high-heeled boots clacking on the ground grew closer. "What are you still doing up, Lauren?"

"The alien man was telling me a story," Lauren said weakly.

"The alien man?" Lauren's mother said.

"He's behind there," Lauren said.

The curtain was swiped open. A tall, curvaceous woman with toned arms and legs in a black and white suit and tie parting her particularly large breasts with tanned skin, a thin face, golden eyes, full lips and extremely long, curly, violet-red hair tied in a single, braided ponytail scanned the room, examining Goku and the twins. A rouge lock of hair dangled in front of her face, just over her thin-rimmed glasses with an orange tint. Goku's eyes widened as he recognized her face. "What were you telling my daughter?" she said, ignoring the stares of the twins. She saw his tail and the white, glowing ball of chi floating above his hand. "Who are you?"

"My name is Son Goku," Goku said, dispelling the ball of chi. "You and I are supposed to find the Dragonball, Crimson Viper."

"I was told that Goku was a powerful fighter from Earth," Crimson Viper said, "not a hospitalized illusionist with a tail."

Goku chuckled. "I got sick on the way here," Goku said. "I bet Fury didn't tell you that."

"No," Viper said, "he didn't. He told me that you had spiky, blonde hair with blue-"

Goku's aura grew around him as his eyes turned blue and his hair spiked upward, flickering between blonde and black.

Wally and Ollie backed themselves up against the wall. "Bloody hell, mate!" Wally said, watching the glass pane rattle. "You'll destroy the whole-"

Goku's heart monitor started to beep as "ERROR" appeared in big, red letters across the screen.

A short, Asian nurse with short, black hair and small, beady eyes rushed into the room. "What is going on- what the hell?!"

Goku's aura faded. "Like this?"

Crimson stared at him, completely dumbfounded by Goku's display of power. "Okay, so you're him," Crimson said, "I'm still upset for keeping Lauren up." She looked at Wally and Ollie. "Sorry guys, but you have to go."

"Why?" they asked simultaneously.

"Goku and I have a lot of things to discuss," she said. "Nurse, you have to leave to."

The nurse just shakily nodded, racing out of the room.

"I can't thank you enough for taking me here," Goku said.

"No worries, mate," Ollie said. "Take care, beat up some baddies while you're at it."

Goku laughed. "I will, Ollie."

Viper looked in Goku's bag. "You have some interesting items in your bag," she said. "As you know, the billionaire philanthropist Michael Proget has supposedly found the seven-star Dragonball and is hosting a battle royale in one day to decide which two people can split the mystical power."

"He does know that you need all seven to get a wish granted, right?" Goku said.

"He dethroned his father and took over the business," Viper said. "Probably not."

"In one day though?" Goku asked. "I'm going to have to leave early then."

A ball of golden chi levitated above his hand. He cast the healing spell on himself, instantly ridding the sore throat and chest pains. The nurse came back in with a tray of concealed needles. "Sorry for waking you-" She saw Goku wide awake. "Or not; Dr. Akentan wanted one last blood test," she said. "Your blood is remarkable, unlike anything we've seen before. He pushed your discharge time up to ten o'clock this morning."

"Are those needles?!" Goku asked nervously.

"Well, yes. That's how we get a blood sample."

Goku started to hyperventilate. "Oh no," he mumbled repeatedly. "Please, do it quickly!" he almost shouted.

The nurse quickly cleared a patch of skin on the back of his hand and pushed the needle in. Goku's free hand squeezed the bed rail so hard that he crushed the plastic and metal like a soda can. "All done," she said, putting a bandage on his hand. "You have a phobia of needles?"

Goku nodded violently. "Always have."

"I'm glad you were asleep for your IV's," she said, half-laughing. "You made an excellent recovery," she said. "You sound even better now; it's like magic!" She scurried out of the room.

"Do you mind if I asked what happened to your daughter?" Goku said.

"I was the target of Shadaloo, an organization we'll most likely see at the tournament soon," she said, "and to persuade me to not join the tournament, they broke my daughter's legs and spine."

"They maimed a child?" Goku said angrily.

Viper nodded. "I plan to make them pay."

"Mommy, it hurts," Lauren said, starting to tear up.

Viper stood from her chair. "I'll ask the nurse for more pain medicine."

A green ball of chi shot from Goku's hand, bursting into dust as it struck Lauren's head. "No need," Goku said.

"What did you do?" Crimson asked.

"I don't feel pain any more," Lauren said.

Goku realized how much Lauren looked like her mother, with her same skin tone, golden eyes, and long, curly, violet-red hair. "It's a healing spell that my student, Natsu showed me." He yawned. "I should probably get some sleep before the long week ahead of us," he said, closing his eyes.

"Mommy, what are you and alien man gonna do?" Lauren asked.

"It's just our work," Crimson said. "Goku and I have the same assignment."

"Can I come with you?" Lauren asked.

"No, sweety," her mom said. "This is just between adults."

* * *

The bright sun awoke Goku seven hours later. He looked toward his roommate, seeing her mother slumped over in a chair next to her daughter. "Ms. Viper," Goku said. "Ms. Viper!" Goku said a little louder.

Crimson popped up in her chair. "Right," she said. She looked at her watch. "Nine fifty?! We have to be in Sydney in ten minutes! If we don't check into the Proget Hotel by then, we won't get to be in the tournament!"

Goku looked at his arms, sighing in relief as he saw bandages over where his IV's were. "I'll get dressed in my armor and mask," Goku said. "It'll be easier to carry you that way."

"What do you mean?" Crimson asked.

Dr. Akenten rushed in with Goku's discharge papers, quickly unhooking him from all of the machines. "Once you change, we can-"

Goku disappeared, followed by a slam of the bathroom door. "One second!" Goku said.

He emerged from the bathroom in his armor, an intimidating, bulky set of white, jagged metal with golden chinks originally forged out of the pits of Oblivion and then blessed by some unknown deity of justice. Beneath the armor was his weighted uniform, leaving only his weapons, light clothing, and other various belongings in the bag. The hooded mask hid his spiky hair and surrounded him with a bright, yellow aura. The doctor and Crimson stared, absolutely amazed at the strange man's glorious attire. Goku swept Crimson of her feet with one arm, handing her his bag with the other. "Please hold on to this."

"Hey!" Crimson said. "Put me down!"

"Where are we going?" Goku asked, taking the discharge papers and firing one last healing spell at Lauren.

Crimson realized it was futile. "3112 Southwark way," Crimson said.

"You might want to hold on," Goku said. "I am a bit fast." Goku fazed out, reappearing in front of the hospital. "Right or left?"

Crimson's jaw dropped. "L-left-"

They disappeared again and again, with Goku stopping every few seconds to get directions. Five minutes passed before they reached the tropical-themed skyscraper Proget hotel. "Here we are," Goku said, grinning while he scanned the interesting martial artists standing outside of the double doors of the hotel.

"What school did you say you studied?" Crimson asked.

"Turtle Style at Master Roshi's school," Goku said. "He's very selective."

"Welcome, warriors of Earth!" a deep, booming voice said from the speakers on the outside walls of the hotel. "One hundred and twenty eight of you have gathered here today for victory, fame, but most importantly, the Dragonball!"

A few warriors shouted some rallying words.

"Over the next five days, you will battle in teams of two in a ladder style tournament in various places in Australia to determine who gets the prize!" the voice from the hotel said. "The first round starts now!"

"What about our rooms?" A tall, muscular Asian man with black hair wearing a yellow jumpsuit said.

"There are only sixteen rooms left!" the voice said. "And with sixty four people here, team up and find another team to fight! You have five minutes to assemble your team!"

Goku took off his armor and mask, throwing it into the bag. Goku grabbed the bag and disappeared, reappearing in seconds without the bag. A tall, very muscular old man with a long, gray beard and long hair growing past his shoulders from his cul-de-sac. "You flew," he said, wrinkling his forehead as his gray eyes widened.

"You could see me?" Goku asked.

Another old man with long gray hair and eyes, thinner than his partner, walked up to the Saiyan. "We recognize that kanji," he said. "You are Roshi's student."

"My name is Son Goku," Goku said, "and this is Crimson Viper-"

"Shh!" Crimson said.

"Pleased to meet you," the thin old man said, bowing to the Saiyan.

Goku bowed as well.

"My name is Iroh," the muscular old man said, "and this is Gen."

"May I ask why you joined the tournament?" Goku said. "I'm here because I have to collect the Dragonballs."

"I want to use the Dragonballs to find my nephew, Zuko," Iroh said.

"The one with the burn over his eye?" Goku asked.

Iroh nodded. "Please tell me you've seen him."

"He should be in Konoha," Goku said. "He went with us to Arulok."

"Us?" Iroh said. "Who is us?"

A large gong sounded. "Begin!" the voice from the hotel said.

"We need to talk," Iroh said. "We will pick other opponents for now." Iroh and Gen flipped back, disappearing into the crowd of growing insanity. Goku grabbed Crimson by the hand and hopped thirty feet into the air.

"Before you jump, warn me first!" Crimson shouted.

"Sorry," Goku said, half-laughing. "Let's fight them." Goku pointed to a muscular duo: a tall, dark-skinned, bald, Asian man with an eye patch covering one eye and a short, light-skinned man with long, blonde hair and a white mask. They pushed through the crowds, waiting for the right team to attack.

Crimson's eyes widened. "No," she said. "They are Sagat and Vega, two of Shadaloo's strongest fighters."

"This will make it easier for us down the road," Goku said, "but if you don't want to, I'll fight them both."

"That's suicide!" Crimson said.

"That's a ticket inside," Goku said, landing in front of them.

The short one chuckled. "Viper? Long time no see! How is Lauren-"

Goku sent a punch into his face, cracking the mask. "Vega!" Sagat shouted, watching his partner tumble back into a bush. "You'll pay for that!"

Goku dodged a flurry of fiery kicks. Goku hopped back and spiked his aura, shaking the ground. "Tiger Shot!" Sagat exclaimed, firing a volley of fireballs.

Goku dodged the fireballs with ease and sent a kick into Sagat's chin, sending him high into the air. Goku turned to Crimson and grinned. "That was fun!"

"Behind you!" Crimson shouted, watching Vega charge from behind him.

Goku whipped around, slamming Vega's temple with a roundhouse kick. Vega fell like a rock. "I guess that's it," Goku said.

"You- how did-"

"I can show you and Lauren if you want; Lauren's a little young, but I can start her out on something small-"

"We have our winners!" the booming hotel voice said. "Please, come inside and pick your rooms!"

The doors opened, and the sixteen teams went inside the entirely automated hotel with sixteen floors, each floor being grander than the one below it. The lobby was quite large but empty, with only a fireplace and a few chairs with silk seats. "I see that you won," Gen said.

"It was easy," Goku said. "They didn't seem that strong anyway."

"Where are Vega and Sagat?" a large, muscular, African American boxer with black hair in cornrows. His partner was a tall, light-skinned man with short, brown hair and wearing a red military uniform with a black cape and red hat.

"Apparently they were defeated, Balrog," the military officer said.

"By who, Bison?"

"M. Bison," he corrected.

"By me," Goku said, walking toward them. "My name is Son Goku, and I-"

Balrog sent a punch into Goku's cheek. Balrog recoiled his fist, holding it in pain like he punched a stone. Goku's grin faded. "If you wanted to fight so badly, you could have just said something." Goku briskly turned away. Goku walked up to the front desk, grabbing his room key. "Hey, Crimson! We got a room on the top floor."

"The entire top floor is reserved for the contenders," a tall, curvy, light-skinned young woman with long, blue hair in a bun and green eyes said in a light, British accent. "By the way, my name is Blair Dame, and my partner is Makoto." He gestured to the short, thin, well-built Asian tomboy in a white gi with a yellow headband and short, spiky, brown hair and brown eyes staring intently at Goku. Her brown belt was tied tightly around her waist. Makoto's outfit was more traditional than Blair's revealing outfit: a white bodysuit cut away at the neck, arms, and legs and black high-heeled boots and black long gloves. "Who lost to you?" Blair asked. "They must have been pretty weak."

"We beat Sagat and Vega," Crimson said, wiping Blair's smug look off her face.

"They were pretty easy to beat though." Goku held his hand out. "My name is Son Goku."

"You're the one who beat Piccolo!" Makoto exclaimed. "It is an honor!"

"This guy?" Blair asked. "Piccolo is on an entirely different level than this guy; he would easily defeat _her_," she stuck her tongue out at Crimson and folded her arms.

"Blair!" Makoto shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"We're going," Blair said, pulling her into an elevator entirely made of glass.

"Brats," Crimson spat, folding her arms.

"Yo, Goku!" Balrog barked from across the room. "C'mere!"

"Here we go again," Goku said, walking through the different groups of fighters and greeting M. Bison and Balrog.

"Oh no," Crimson said, rushing after him.

"What do you want?" Goku asked, looking up at the tall boxer.

"On the far wall, there is tomorrow's roster," Balrog said. "You and your bitch will be fighting us."

"And?" Goku said.

M. Bison pulled a knife out of his back pocket. "It'd be a shame if something happened to you."

Goku sent a beam of chi at the knife, melting it instantly. "It would, wouldn't it?"

"I'm sick of you!" Balrog shouted, throwing a punch.

Goku caught it and started to squeeze, silencing the hotel with Balrog's screams. "A challenge has been initiated!" The host through the speakers shouted. "Goku and Crimson versus Balrog and M. Bison: begin!"

Bison charged at Goku, throwing a volley of strikes enhanced with pink chi at the side of Goku's head. The attacks passed right through him. Bison growled in frustration. "What?!"

Crimson sent a kick into Bison's side, sending him flailing into Goku's fist. Goku fazed out, knocking Bison and Balrog into the air with two, lightning fast kicks. Goku started performing strange hand signs, making certain fighters watching get excited. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Goku exclaimed, creating seven clones of himself out of smoke. The eight Goku's fazed out, reappearing in the sky.

Crimson could only watch in awe as Goku knocked their opponents back and forth between the clones. "He's really good!" a short, thin, shapely teenage girl with fair skin, long, braided brown hair and big brown eyes said, also watching in awe. "Isn't he, Michael?"

"It's no matter," Michael said in a thick, southern accent. Michael was a muscular, white haired, mulleted man with grayish-blue eyes, wearing a yellow vest adorning a red bow tie emblem on his left side with two white R's on each end of the tie, as well as tiny gray suspenders worn underneath his vest, green trousers, black boots with ribbed tips, brown gloves, as well as a gray and yellow baseball cap with a yellow "13" on the front. "He will be destroyed either way."

"Lighten up, Thirteen," a tall, muscular, German man with short, neat, brown hair and a Hitler-styled mustache wearing a blue military uniform said. His left eye was tattooed with an ouroboros surrounding a hexagram. "You will get your chance."

A tall, muscular man with wavy, silver hair, blood red eyes, pale skin, and a military officer's outfit stood next to the man with the tattooed eye. "Bradley, depending on the rosters, he may not."

"Then I'll kick his ass for him, Zero!" Bradley said.

Goku and a clone sent a heel strike into Balrog and Bison's face, knocking them to the ground. Goku's clones disappeared. Goku landed on his feet and folded his arms. "Does anyone else have a problem with us?" he asked, gesturing to the crowd.

"We do." A tall man with dark, red skin and long, gray hair in a bun with glowing golden eyes wearing a martial arts uniform walked up to Goku with his partner, an extremely tall cyborg with chrome skin and white eyes.

"Akuma and Seth have issued a challenge!" the host said. "Fight!"

Goku spiked his aura while letting his opponents batter him. Goku caught a kick and a punch. "This ends now." He whipped them into the air. "Fus Ro Dah!" Goku shouted, blowing Seth and Akuma through the ceiling with the power of his voice. "I'm done here," Goku said, walking toward the glass elevator. "If you want to fight me, go ahead," Goku said. "I'll be in my room."

A team of young, female fighters followed Goku and Crimson inside. One was a tall, curvaceous, fair-skinned Kunoichi with long, straight, brown hair and eyes wearing a tan, flak jacket and baggy clothing. A forehead protector with the Leaf Village emblem caught Goku's eye. "You two are from Konoha?"

The other girl, a short, skinny, fair-skinned girl with short, brown hair wearing a school girl uniform and boxing gloves shook her head. "Ibuki is, I'm not."

"Who are you?" Viper asked.

"My name is Sakura," she said.

"I remember you leaving with Naruto and a few others for the Dark Tournament," Ibuki said in a light, bubbly voice. "You seem a lot stronger now."

"Naruto is my student, so he's a lot stronger too," Goku said.

"Is he cuter?" Ibuki asked.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I don't know," Goku said. "You'll have to see for yourself, I guess."

"Then I'll go with you once this is over," Ibuki said. "You are going back to Konoha, right?"

Goku nodded, wincing as Viper discreetly poked his ribs. "Sooner or later."

"I wonder how many cute boys there are now!" Ibuki said as the doors opened.

"See you guys tomorrow!" Ibuki said, grabbing Sakura's arm and running past two tall, male Shinobi in red suits waiting for Goku and Viper.

Goku walked forward. "Excuse me," he said kindly.

"We fight," one of the Shinobi said.

The host's microphone screeched. "Gudy and Coy have issued a-"

The right Shinobi went down with a lightning fast kick to his stomach by Crimson. She spun around in a circle, knocking the second one into a wall with another kick.

"Goku and Crimson are the winners!" the host exclaimed.

On the way to their room, they had taken out three other teams testing their power. "If one more group challenges us, I will take this place down," Crimson said, grabbing the door handle.

"Hey!" Blair and Makoto ran up to them. "We called that room!"

"What?" Crimson said. "We were here first!"

"They did call it, Crimson,: Goku said.

"I challenge you for the room!" Blair shouted.

Makoto started trembling. "Do you have any idea who this guy is?!"

"A loser," Blair said. "Let's go!"

Crimson stepped forward. "I'm going to-"

"Allow me," Goku said.

"Goku and Crimson have accepted Blair and Makoto's challenge!" the host shouted over the intercom. "Fight!"

Blair charged at Goku, trying every technique on the Saiyan. Goku easily dodged all of the attacks and sidestepped a punch, poking her forehead. Blair fell to the ground and pounded her fists in anger. "Makoto! Beat him up!"

Makoto swallowed and charged, throwing everything she had. Blair joined once again, but proving no help. Goku knocked them down again with a single roundhouse kick. "We can't beat him," Makoto said. "We lose."

Blair grit her teeth and grudgingly nodded. Both girls climbed to their feet and bowed. Goku bowed back. "You two are pretty good for people who haven't broken the human wall yet," Goku said.

"The human wall?" Blair asked.

"The limit to human capabilities," Goku said. "Surpassing that wall will destroy all limits to your physical and mental abilities."

"How do you break that barrier?" Blair asked.

"Train under me, and I'll show you," Goku said.

"No way-"

"This is one of the strongest fighters on Earth," Makoto said to her friend. "Be thankful that you have no current teacher."

Blair scowled. "If it makes you feel better, Makoto."

"Think about it," Goku said. "I'll be here for three months." He opened the door to a spacious, comfortable bedroom with two queen-sized beds with red pillows separated by a small nightstand. In front of the beds was a sixty-inch flat-screen television sitting on top of a drawer.

The blinds on the far end of the room were open as well as the window. "Who was in here?" Crimson asked.

"Dhalism and Rose have issued a challenge!" the host said as a tall, bald, lanky, Indian man with red war paint all over his body climbed into the window with a tall, thin young woman with long, purple hair in a ponytail and pale, light skin.

"You've gotta be freaking kidding me!" Crimson shouted, charging with Goku at the new challengers.

Dhalism and Rose barely had time to react. The next time they blinked, they were on the floor outside the room with bruises on their faces and chests. "What just happened?" Dhalism asked.

"Because of the number of challenges issued to Goku and Crimson, the tournament has been shortened to four days!" the host shouted over the intercom.

Goku fazed out, reappearing with his belongings inside the room. "Did you lock the door?" Goku asked.

"Yes," Crimson said, starting to laugh. "You're starting to look a bit tired."

Goku laughed. "I am tired," he said. "I've never met a group of fighters as excitable as them."

"You got that right," Crimson said. "I can't wait until this is all over."

"I can't wait until tomorrow for the real fights to begin," Goku said.

"All you think about is fighting," Crimson said.

"Fighting allowed me to save the world several times," Goku said. "It's hard not to think about it when it is your life, security, and your hobby."

"Do you think you could show my daughter and I a few moves?" Crimson asked.

"I thought you lived here," Goku said. "That's why your daughter is in the hospital over here."

"I actually live in the United States," she said. "Wherever I go, Lauren goes with."

Goku nodded. "I see."

"We love it," Crimson said. "We hire a private tutor to fly with us around the world."

"I remember when my eldest son was that young," Goku said. "My wife never left her out of her sight."

"Who is your wife?" Crimson asked.

"Her name was Chi-chi," Goku said. "She was a wonderful wife, mother, and friend." Goku smiled painfully.

"I'm sorry," Crimson said. "I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," Goku said. "I am a bit worried."

"About the tournament?" Crimson said.

"No, about the fact that my students are out there by themselves," he said.

**And that is chapter one! Tell me what you think! The next seven chapters will be shorter and focus on the new badassery of Goku's students!**


	2. The Shinobi

**I own nothing**

**Belligerence ahead. Naruto meets some interesting people.**

Naruto didn't realize he fell asleep until his pod hit the soft ground. It did not make for a less jarring impact, as Naruto's head hit the metal panels in front of him. "Ouch!" Naruto shouted, rubbing his forehead. He turned around in his chair, seeing the dark, dense rainforest going on for miles. The only thing protecting him from the Jaguar pacing outside the glass. "Where am I?" Naruto said to himself.

"Eight hundred and forty five hours in walking distance to Rio de Janeiro," SHIELD's automated copilot system said. "Recalculating exact location..."

Naruto put his white and blue armor on, carrying the rest of his belongings in his bag. He slipped his priest mask on, turning completely invisible at will. He looked for his reflection in the glass to be sure, and found nothing. "I freaking love this thing." Naruto pushed the glass cover off the ship and stepped out, hearing an agitated hiss below his foot. "Sorry," Naruto hopped over the wide constrictor slithering across the ground. He jumped high into the air, landing on a treetop. He looked up at the moon. "It's either really late," Naruto said. Three glints out of the corner of his eyes told him to duck. Three knives flew over his head. "Or really early," Naruto groaned, agilely dodging six more knives. "I'm not going to put up with this." Naruto spiked his yellow aura, catching another volley of blades with one hand.

"O flash amarelo! The Yellow Flash!" a muffled voice from the trees surrounding Naruto said.

"I know you're there," Naruto said.

"Calar-se!" a second voice shouted, followed by a dull thump.

"I don't have time for this," Naruto said, fazing out. The run to Rio, for him at least, took only two and a half hours going east. Naruto stopped running once he reached the outskirts of Rio, stepping onto the dirt roads of a poor district with shoddily built houses and a short clock tower in the center of a roundabout. "Four thirty?" Naruto said, watching a few lights in some of the houses turn on. "It's a bit early for people to get up and go to work."

"Nós não vamos trabalhar agora," something growled behind him, its voice sounding like metal scraping metal.

Naruto whipped around, seeing a tall, muscular humanoid with bright red skin and four arms, each holding kunai. "Quem é você? Who are you?"

"Your grim reaper, Naruto Uzumaki!" he shouted. "Your invisibility will only make you easier to clean up!"

Three tall, reptilian humanoids with green scales emerged from behind him. Naruto started to laugh. "Saia do caminho! Get out of the way!" Naruto was pushed to the ground. Naruto took his mask off, staring at the tall, shapely, athletic, Japanese Kunoichi with tanned skin, long, straight black hair, and bright green eyes. She wore a green and black form-fitting uniform with a green flak jacket, sandals, and black mesh pants and shirt. A forehead protector with a village unknown to Naruto was tied around her right thigh. "Run, Naruto! I'll meet you downtown!"

Naruto hopped to his feet. "No way!" he said. "They want trouble? They've found it!"

"We're gonna teach you guys a lesson, one you won't ever forget!" the four armed man barked.

"Just you four lousy guys?" Naruto said. "Come on. I dare you."

"Kill them both!" The four assailants charged.

Naruto hopped into the air and whipped around, sending the four-armed man sailing into the sky with a powerful roundhouse. He fell into stance, blocking several strikes and proceeded to knock them all to the ground with lightning fast strikes. The three reptiles hopped to their feet, charging again. The Kunoichi fazed out with impressive speed, taking out two of the three.

Naruto and the Kunoichi slowly circled the last lizard man. "I think they learned their lesson," she said. "You think so?"

Naruto's yellow aura spiked again, creating small tremors. The lizard threw several smoke bombs down and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "You are Jade, I'm guessing?" Naruto asked.

The Kunoichi nodded. "I am from the Hidden Blade village."

"I've never been there before," Naruto said.

"You should visit during the winter," Jade said, her Asian accent very prominent. "It is very beautiful."

"No offense, but I've had enough cold," Naruto said.

Jade laughed. "You must tell me about where you came from."

Naruto followed Jade into the more popular districts of the city, but they were only met with silence. "What's wrong with this city?" Naruto asked, hearing only his footsteps as he followed Jade down a dark alleyway. "No one is outside." Two masked figures wearing the ninja fatigues and flak jackets with different forehead protectors waited for them. One wore a straw hat hiding short, black hair and the other one was bald with glowing, red eyes that could be seen through the mask. He was a monster, standing at seven feet tall and all muscle.

"No one comes outside on tournament day," Jade said. "Raiden, Baraka, I found him."

"Hi, kind shtranger," the extremely tall, muscular ninja with the glowing red eyes growled. "My name ish Baraka, and thish ish Raiden. Shay, do you have any shnacks?"

"Man, you don't just come up and ask somebody if they got snacks!" Raiden, a slightly shorter, skinnier ninja said. "Sorry about my boy, he's always hungry. Maybe if that fool stopped smoking weed-"

"Shut up!" Jade barked. "Take us inside."

Raiden waved his hand across the ground, revealing a hidden door underneath the dirt. "You ready, kid?"

"I'm always ready!" Naruto said excitedly. "Believe it!"

"How are you sho cheery at thish time of day?" Baraka asked.

Raiden opened the hatch and hopped inside, followed by Baraka, Jade, and Naruto. He held his nose. "What the hell are people eating down here?!"

"Shorry," Baraka said.

"Damn it, Baraka! That shit's nasty!" Raiden shouted, running down the long, dim corridor and turning the only right corner in the underground hideout.

"I'm only human, Raiden!" Baraka said.

"You're a Tartakan," Jade said. "Your eyes glow, you have eight rows of needles for teeth, and you have blades that can come out of your forearms."

"Well, if you put it that way-"

"What is this place?" Naruto said, entering what looked like an underground, run-down movie theater. The lights on the ceiling were broken, save the ones flickering in the corner. Many kinds of Shinobi and Kunoichi went down the staircases behind the concession stands into the theaters.

"Shao Khan's hideout," Raiden said. "He's too stingy to build a real one."

Baraka's eyed widened. "What ish that wonderful shmell?!"

One of the men running the concession stands barely had time to react before a wad of cash was whipped at them.

Baraka slammed his large fists on the counter. "Gimme your extra large bucket of popcorn, butter on every layer!" he barked.

The other ninjas stopped to stare at the alien. The man behind the counter shakily handed Baraka the popcorn. "Here you are, uh, sir!"

"Thank you, kind shir!" Baraka said cheerily, the large ninja half-skipping back to his companions. He either ignored the harmful comments from the other ninja, or he just didn't care.

Jade led her group down the staircase and into a large, IMAX styled theater with steep steps going all the way down to the first few rows. A tall, tanned, muscular man in white, bloodstained Samurai armor with an Oni helmet welcomed the hundreds of ninja inside. "He is Shao Khan," Jade said. "He's a big fish in a little pond; he took over a village by killing the Kage and is trying to expand his empire."

"Then why is he holding a tournament?" Naruto asked.

"To force the losing Shinobi after each battle to join his army and to get money from the applicants," Raiden said. "He's got thousands of them all over the world, acting as mercenaries and recruiters."

"Does he compete in his own tournament?" Naruto asked.

"He fights one member of the winning team for the prize," Jade said. "No one wins; either you die a free man, or live a slave."

"There are shome open sheatsh in the front," Baraka said, sitting down in the third row.

"Man, why do we always have to sit in the front?" Raiden complained, sitting down anyway.

"Uh, if I do remember correctly, I was the one who paid for your entry fee, so I don't wanna hear nothing you have to tell me right now," Baraka said.

"Alright, alright," Raiden said. "Can I get some of that popcorn though?"

"Uh, I hate to burst your bubble, again," Baraka growled, hugging his popcorn bowl, "but if you didn't bring the shtacks, you're not going to get any of my shnacks."

"You're cold as fuck," Raiden said.

"There are children here!" Jade said.

Four tall, muscular, Asian Shinobi wearing the stereotypical black ninja costume sat in the row directly in front of Raiden's group, blocking their vision.

"Hold up," Raiden said, standing up. "Now I _know_ your big asses are not about to sit in the front!"

The four ninja turned around, all glaring at Raiden. "Do you know who-"

"You know that you're planting your fat asses in the front and blocking everybody's view!" Raiden shouted. "You better move your oversized fucking stereotype-ass globes before I plant my foot so far up your ass that you fucking taste the cockroach I fucking stepped on!"

Jade covered Naruto's ears.

The black suited ninjas moved to another row. Raiden sat down. "Do you believe this shit, Baraka? Like, why the hell would you-"

"Laquiesha!" A deep, husky voice shouted from the theater entrance. "Laquiesha! Are you in here?!"

"Un. Fucking. Believable." Raiden turned around. "Yo! My boy! There ain't no Laquiesha up in this bitch! Get the fuck out!"

"Damn!" the man calling for Laquiesha shouted. "My bad!"

The lights in the theater dimmed as a large Powerpoint appeared on the screen. "Welcome, ninja of Earth!" Shao Khan boomed. "If you have made it here, you have made it past the first round!"

Naruto realized why he had been attacked upon arrival. "The game had already started!"

"The next few rounds are simple," Shao said. "We keep narrowing the playing field until one team remains."

"What will the second round be like?" one of the ninjas dressed in black said.

"Excellent question!" Shao Khan said. "You'll battle here until eight teams remain!"

"Exshcuse me, kind shir," Baraka said, raising his hand. "When will the shecond round commencshe?"

Shao Khan chuckled. "Now," he said. "You have five minutes to narrow down the roster."

"Shir, may I _pleashe_ finish my popcorn firsht?" Baraka asked.

"Go!" Shao shouted, vanishing in a cloud of smoke. The theater went pitch black and startled murmurs filled the crowd.

Naruto closed his eyes, seeing the outlines of all of the ninja in the room. "Jump," Naruto said, hopping over a shiruken. Naruto tossed his team into the air.

Raiden grabbed a light fixture on the way up. "What the hell-"

"Solar Flare!" Naruto barked, covering his eyes as he blinded everyone else in the room with a flash brighter than the sun. He flew into the air, approaching his dazed teammates.

A red aura appeared over his hand. "Alteration Magic: Blood Seek!" Naruto tapped his teammates on their foreheads, allowing them to see the energy outlines of their opponents.

"I can see them," Jade said. "How did you do that?"

"It's just some magic I learned from my friend's spell books," Naruto said. "Now let's kick some butt!"

"Can I finish my popcorn firsht?" Baraka pleaded between bites as he dunked his head into the bucket while holding on with his other hand.

A shiruken cut the bucket in half, causing the rest of the popcorn to spill. "Damn!" the ninja shouting for Laquiesha called. "My bad!"

Baraka's eyes changed from red to a venomous green. "Excushe me, kind partnersh, but I need to go kill him."

Long, steel blades shot from Baraka's arms, knees, and back, cutting through his light armor like it was butter. Baraka dropped to the ground and roared, running through all of the Shinobi in his way. Raiden dropped. He slammed his fist on the ground, creating a sound similar to a thunder clap. Lightning surrounded his white aura. "Damn, Baraka! Calm down! It was only popcorn!"

Baraka agilely dodged a volley of distance weapons from Laquiesha's man and stabbed him in the stomach. "Damn!" Laquiesha's man shouted. "Should have hit! My bad!"

"This is too easy," Naruto said, joining his partners in the battle with an unfair advantage.

The lights snapped back on, making the eight remaining teams cringe. "And that's time!" Shao Khan said, looking as if he had never left the room. "Let's introduce the winning teams." He gestured to the group of Shinobi dressed in black. "First, Shadow Village!"

The quartet stayed silent.

"Next, HaVIk!"

Four cyborgs wearing yellow and black jumpsuits folded their arms simultaneously.

"Daegon!"

A group of gray-skinned gargoyles with red, glowing eyes glared at Naruto and Bararka.

"Rai Cho Fist!"

A slightly overweight, aged man in a red kimono grinned as his three students in black _gi_ posed with their weapons.

"Element Fist!"

Three men wearing matching uniforms in different colors and a young woman wearing a smaller version of their uniform scanned the room.

"Cyrax!"

An old, Asian man wearing a gray kimono with a black Katana at his side bowed. His three conjured demons, all amorphous, black figures with glowing, red eyes, bowed as well.

"Team Cain!"

The group was composed of strange characters. Their leader was short, bald, chubby, and extremely pale with his paper-white skin. He wore khakis and a black, buttoned, long sleeve shirt. His right-hand man was tall and lanky with a long, pointed nose and wearing racer goggles over a white race car driver's uniform. His hair stood up on all its ends. He pumped his fists into the air. "I am the greatest!"

"Shut up, Racer," a tall, extremely muscular man snapped, glaring at him with his red eyes. He yawned. "I already didn't wanna do this. Having you here makes it more annoying."

"Why don't you all be quiet so I can hear Shao Khan," the team's short, skinny, female member said. She was a pale, Chinese girl with long, black hair in two traditional ox-horns and the side of her head. Her uniform was red, sporting the Fire Nation emblem on the front.

"Mai is correct," their leader said in a high-pitched, monotonous tone. "Silence."

"And Team Jade!" Shao Khan exclaimed.

Naruto put his mask on again to match his teammates. They stayed silent.

"Let's get the next rounds underway, shall we?" Shao said. "Choose one person to represent your team."

Jade stepped forward. "I'll go-"

"Wait," Naruto cut in. "I'll do it." He cracked his knuckles. "I think I know what's next, and I want to do it."

The seven other teams sent their representative to the front of the theater. "The eight of you will be assembled into one-on-one matches. The loser of each match gets his team disqualified."

"What happens when they lose?" Jade asked, making Shao's eyes narrow.

"They will find out," Khan snarled. "Now: pick a number between one and eight. One will fight two, three will fight four, and so on."

"One," Naruto said.

"Two," the leader of team Daegon said confidently.

"Well then, begin," Shao said, hopping back.

Naruto fell into the Kame stance. The gargoyle laughed. "Turtle style? A Shinobi of the Leaf Village would use such a lowly martial art?"

Naruto crossed his arms and spiked his aura, blowing everyone away. The theater started to shake.

"Cain, what's his power level?!" Mai asked the team leader.

Cain's eye widened. "He started at 300,000 and it's skyrocketing past 550,000!"

The gargoyle slowly climbed to his feet. "What the hell?" he said. "Who are you?"

"I am the Second Yellow Flash," Naruto said, charging toward his opponent.

"Even with that armor on, he still moves so fast!" Racer said. "He may be able to keep up with me when I'm jogging!"

Naruto sent kicks into the gargoyle's chest, stomach, face, knee, shin, shoulder, and forehead in less than ten seconds. The gargoyle fell to the ground, blacking out instantly.

"Flash of Team Jade is the winner," Shao said. "I'm sorry, Daegon, but your team has been disqualified."

The rest of Team Daegon rushed toward Naruto. "You have losht, kind shtrangersh! I would very mucsh apprechiate it if you acchepted your losshes like a true shportsman!" Baraka barked, intercepting a gargoyle and stabbing him with the blades on his arms.

The other two gargoyles were taken out by a lightning bolt and a green sai.

"Can we move on?" Shao performed a series of hand signs without announcing his jutsu. Team Daegon disappeared. "There are six slots left. Choose quickly; I am losing my patience."

"Three," one of the ninja in black said.

"Four," Mai said, stepping forward.

"Begin," Shao said.

Before the ninja in black could move, knives impaled his kneecap, shoulder, and his hands, rendering him useless. He fell to his good knee, too petrified to move. Mai remained emotionless and walked over to him. She grabbed the side of his head and threw him aside. "Am I done?" she asked.

Shao nodded. "Very well. Mai of Team Cain is the winner."

Mai glared at Naruto. "What are you looking at?" Naruto said.

"I wonder how many knives I can stick in your head," Mai said.

"You say that implying you manage to hit me," Naruto said.

Mai threw a knife at his head. Naruto fazed out, reappearing behind her. _I missed?!_

"Yes, you missed," Naruto said, disappearing again. He reappeared next to his teammates and smirked. "And you'll keep missing."

Mai's fists tightened. "You're pretty cocky; I'll be sure to carve that grin into your face."

"Let's get on with it," one of the men in the matching uniforms said. All of the uniforms were in different colors.

A man in a green uniform pushed the girl in a red uniform forward. "Suki," he said. "Take care of this one."

An electric collar around her neck forced her to oblige. Suki was a fair-skinned young woman of moderate height with brown eyes and shoulder length, brown hair. Naruto recognized her name. "Suki?" he said.

Suki shot a glare at him. "What?"

"Nothing," Naruto said. "I have a friend who has been searching for a close friend named Suki, that's all."

Suki's jaw dropped. "S-sokka?"

"I will defeat her," the yellow robotic leader of HaVik said, towering over the girl by three feet. He fell into stance.

"Begin," Shao said.

Suki dodged a volley of kicks with ease and returned with one right hook, knocking Havik's head off. Havik's body fell to its knees as the light emanating from its body died. "Good," Suki's teammates said in unison.

Suki ran up to Naruto. "You know who Sokka is? You know the Avatar?"

"Suki," one of her teammates said. "Get over here."

Suki ignored him. "Are you going back to wherever they are?"

"Yes," Naruto said, receiving a glare from Jade. "She doesn't know where they are! Calm down!"

"Then take me with you," Suki said.

"That's enough," Suki's teammates said.

Suki fell to the ground, writhing in pain as electricity surged through her entire body from the collar. "Hey! Stop it!" Naruto shouted. "You're hurting her!"

"What are you going to do about it?" Suki's teammates asked.

Naruto fired a beam of chi at the collar's remote sensor, deactivating the device. Naruto pulled Suki to her feet and ripped the collar from her neck. "Damn, son!" Raiden exclaimed.

"That is assault on our property," Suki's teammates said. "We will not forget."

Jade pulled Naruto aside. "What was I supposed to do?" Naruto said. "They were hurting her!"

"Apparently, Nick Fury did not tell you that I am the leader of this operation," Jade barked. "If you want to fight, you need to ask me. If you want to laugh, you get permission. If you want to even _fart_ while I am in the room, you better make sure that I said it was okay. Are we clear?"

Naruto quickly nodded. "Ma'am yes ma'am!"

The overweight master of Rai Cho Fist stepped forward. "I guess it just leaves me and you, right?" he said to the old conjurer of Cyrax.

"Don't act like we're friends," the conjurer spat, sending a demon forward. "You'll feel better when I don't show up to your funeral."

The tubby martial artist gathered white chi around his hands. "I will die fighting the hunger in my stomach!" He charged the demon, dodging a volley of black energy blasts. He whipped two golden chopsticks at the demon, stabbing it in the eyes. "I will die with dumplings in between my chopsticks!"

The demon shrieked before turning into dust. Eight more chopsticks flew out from the dumpling-lover's sleeves, impaling and banishing the other two demons. "Fair enough," Khan said. "Rai Cho Fist is the winner!"

The leader of Rai Cho Fist bowed. "Now, if today's activities are over with, I'd like to get some food."

The magician fell to his knees. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

"Bo Rai Cho is correct," Shao said. "Meet me here at eight AM tomorrow. You are dismissed."

"Let's get out of here," Jade said, walking briskly out of the theater.

"Wait!" Suki said, running from her team to Naruto. "Please, let me stay with you guys."

Naruto looked to Jade for permission. "She will stay with me," she said. "I believe Suki's teammates will have a few words for you, Naruto, and I want her out of it."

Naruto nodded. "I'll make sure they never bother you again." His Uzumaki grin flashed itself to Suki. "Believe it."

They approached the hidden entrance and exited the hatch. "It'sh hot out here," Baraka said, squinting at the sun.

"No dip, Baraka," Raiden said. They walked out into a busy summer street, bustling with tourists of all races and the locals, a few scowling at the tourists. A pair of tanned Brazilian girls with long, flowing hair and yellow bikinis rode past Raiden and Baraka on bikes, quickly making their way down the street.

"I'm going to make my move," Baraka said, walking toward them.

"Not gonna lie, you're ugly as fuck," Raiden said. "Let me talk, and don't take off your mask."

"Assh-hole," Baraka said, disappearing with his best friend.

"Meet me here at seven thirty in the morning," Jade said. "There should be a task force from Konoha that should be here soon, so just wait."

"From Konoha? Why would anyone from Konoha be here?" Naruto asked.

"Lady Hokage said that you may be more than I could handle," Jade said. "She sent the rest of your team."

"My team?"

"The Konoha Eleven," Jade said. "According to her, you know them all very well." Jade started heading out of the alleyway. "Aren't you part of them?"

"Where are you going?" Naruto asked.

"To enjoy Rio," Jade said. "Bye."

"Wait!" Naruto said. "I don't-"

"Just don't let anyone know who you are," Jade said, disappearing in a cloud of smoke with Suki.

Naruto put his cowl attached to his mask over the rest of his head. "This will be interesting." He walked out of the alley with his bag, immediately catching the attention of everything in the block. "O que você está olhando? What are you all looking at?" he said.

"Su armadura!" one hot dog vendor said from across the four-way intersection.

Naruto continued to walk down the street, boiling in his armor. He wouldn't take it off; with his whiskers it would be a direct violation of Jade's orders. Naruto started thinking of Konoha again, and after six months he started to feel homesick. He walked over to a small and busy restaurant with a sign that read _C__ozinha Curioso_ in neon green lettering above the white set of doors and walked into the plain eatery, sitting down at the bar and almost immediately ordered the closest thing on the menu to ramen they had. The waiter, a tall, aged, slightly chubby Brazilian man with a pleasant smile and short, gray hair that used to be brown. "Teuchi!" Naruto exclaimed, startling the man.

"Que?" the waiter said, giving the young man his meal.

Naruto placed fourteen dollars on the table and started eating, ignoring the eyes staring at him from other customers. He finished the bowl and turned around to leave. "Jade was right," Naruto said, standing up. Suki's teammates stood over him, their arms folded. "Do you guys want to take this outside?"

Naruto blocked a sucker punch from the man in the yellow uniform. His fellows in blue and green threw strikes as well, but all were blocked or dodged. "You took away our slave!" The blue ninja said. "It does not matter where we battle!"

The waiter's eyes widened. He ran for the phone and started calling the police.

* * *

"We've looked everywhere." The tall, shapely, light-skinned Kunoichi with green eyes and long, pink hair sat down in the small hotel lobby with nine other Konoha ninja. "Tsunade said he was here!"

"He is, Sakura," a tall, fair-skinned Shinobi with spiky, black hair in a ponytail with an irritated expression on his face said. "He is just disguising himself until he can return home. What a drag."

"But why, Shikamaru?" a tall, thick Shinobi with long, unruly brown hair and fat cheeks asked as he demolished a bag of barbecue potato chips.

"Probably Nick's orders, Choji!" a tall, beautiful Kunoichi with fair, flawless skin and extremely long, blonde hair said. She winked one of her blue eyes at the young tourist gawking at her athletic figure. "Besides, I wouldn't mind a little time off from our mission halfway across the globe. We'll run into him sooner or later."

"No! Ino, it is bad to stray off task!" the young man reprimanding Ino was a tall, athletic adolescent with a black bowl cut and thick, bushy eyebrows.

"Ino may be on to something, Lee," a tall, athletic young woman with fair skin, brown eyes and short, brown hair styled in traditional Chinese ox-horns. "If we stop intentionally searching for something not meant to be found, it's possible that it will reveal itself."

"Ino is forgetting a very important detail, Tenten." The tall, young man with light skin and long, brown hair with large, light, lavender eyes had the highest rank of the group, being a Jonin at his age. "However, we must keep in mind that Naruto is being tracked by very dangerous people. They are not to be taken lightly."

"I agree with Neji," a young man of moderate height with fair skin, brown eyes and spiky brown hair, and red fang markings of his clan on his cheeks said. His large dog with a bulky, wolf-like appearance barked in agreement. "I say we start the search over."

"My bugs cannot track him, Kiba." The young man of moderate height with pale skin, spiky brown hair, and black glasses folded his arms. The majority of his face was concealed by a hood and his mouth was hidden under a black face mask. "Starting the search over would be futile because his chi signature has changed."

The desk clerk stopped following the conversation and turned on the news, his jaw dropping at the events happening downtown. The last member of the group of ninja, a tall, curvaceous young woman with light skin, long black hair and eyes like Neji's, glanced at the television, doing a double take at the carnage. "Shino, take a look at this."

"What is it, Hinata?" Shino said, looking at the television. A tall man concealed by blue and white armor along with an ominous mask spiked his aura in the middle of the streets, blocking several strikes from three muscular Shinobi in matching uniforms but in different colors.

"What the heck is happening down there?" Tenten said.

"Let's check it out!" Lee said, watching the masked man perform a series of hand signs faster than any one of them had seen any ninja do before.

"He's fast," Neji said. "He did an entire hand sign sequence is less than three seconds."

"Do you think that's Naruto?" Kiba asked. "What do you think, Akamaru?"

Akamaru yipped happily while wagging his tail.

"No way," Sakura said. "Naruto's too slow. Whoever that guy is, he's definitely not Naruto."

"I still think we should investigate," Shikamaru said. "We should stop it, before another ninja attack gets blamed on Konoha."

"I just wanna see this guy up close!" Lee exclaimed, watching as the masked man thrashed his three opponents while moving faster than the cameras could catch him.

The ten Leaf ninja departed, quickly finding themselves blocked off by yellow police tape covering a large area of the city. The masked man appeared hundreds of feet in the air between two buildings with the throat of a ninja in a green uniform in his hand. He whipped him into the side of the building and sent a knee strike into his face, knocking the green ninja out. Naruto placed the green ninja on the top of the building and turned to the ten Konoha ninja. He waved to them and stepped off the skyscraper, landing on his feet. The blue and yellow ninja charged toward him, refusing to give up. Naruto hopped back, dodging two fists and drew his hands to his side. "Kamehameha!" he shouted, blowing the two ninja away. The yellow ninja laid on the ground, tired and defeated.

The blue ninja rose to his feet and preformed a series of hand signs. He pressed his palm on the ground, creating black rings of ink around his hand. "Summoning-"

Naruto fazed out and kicked the blue ninja in the face, countering his summoning jutsu. The blue ninja fell on his back and exploded into a cloud of smoke. Naruto whipped around, drawing his sword before the blue ninja stabbed him in the back. Naruto cut a gash into the blue ninja's throwing arm and cut his kneecap, incapacitating him. He turned to the other Konoha ninja and sheathed his sword as the ambulance and police arrived. "Pare! Em nome da lei!" one policeman shouted.

Naruto calmly walked over to him and grabbed the barrel of the automatic handgun, crumpling it like it was paper. Before the other cops could react, Naruto formed an energy barrier around the cop and himself. "I was never here," he said "Got it?"

The cop quickly nodded. Naruto dispelled the barrier and disappeared. "Where did he go?" Sakura said, frantically searching for the masked man.

"Hey guys," a cheery voice that hadn't changed much in the past six months said from behind them. "Long time no see, right?"

The ten ninja whipped around, watching the masked man take his mask off. Naruto grinned at them. "Naruto!" Lee said, falling into stance. "I challenge you to a-"

Tenten smacked him across the head. "Not now, Lee! He just got back to Earth today!"

"Don't worry," Naruto said. "I'll be sure to spar with you when we get back home."

"What were you doing fighting those Shinobi anyway?" Ino asked.

"I was doing the right thing," Naruto said, putting the mask in his bag. "So, um, my SHIELD protector left me here by myself; I have money in the bag, so do you mind if I join you wherever you guys are staying?"

"Tsunade had us already plan for that," Shikamaru said. "You and Hinata share a room."

Hinata's eyes widened. She was never told about the arrangements.

"By the way," Choji said, "what happened to you during the past six months?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto said, taking his breastplate and gauntlets off and putting them in the bag. Underneath the armor was a dark blue tee shirt with Goku's kanji over his heart and the Uzumaki clan insignia taking up the back. He stopped quickly to tie his forehead protector around his head and continued walking.

Ino, Tenten, Sakura, and especially Hinata started to notice that his upper body had become very well toned. His biceps bulged out of his shirt and his shoulders were wider. He didn't slouch any more, nor did his shoulders slump. It was obvious that he had taken his training very seriously.

"You can move faster than some of the Jonin now," Neji said, "and the armor, the sword, and the mask are all enchanted and I doubt they were easy to get. Start from when you stepped foot on Arulok."

As Naruto started telling his story, Hinata started to stare. She didn't feel the usual butterflies in her stomach or her face steaming as she died of embarrassment. A more aggressive voice told her to charge, pounce on top of him and bring him to the ground. Luckily, she repressed that voice and continued listening. "And then I died," Naruto said. "Thanks to the Greybeards, I was brought back to life."

"You _died?_" all of Naruto's friends said simultaneously.

"Yup!" Naruto said. "But that's another story. Anyway, Goku then went Super Saiyan Three and killed Kuuzer without even breaking a sweat! Goku kept me and the rest of his high level students on Arulok to train intensely for six months straight!" Naruto followed his friends into the small hotel lobby.

The desk clerk stared at Naruto. "Who is he?" the clerk asked in broken English

"Our missing eleventh member," Shikamaru said, tossing Naruto his room key.

The clerk looked at the faulds and greaves of Naruto's Dragonbone armor and swallowed. He was the guy on his television. The clerk shrunk behind his desk. "May I take your bag, sir?"

"No," Naruto said, "but thank you."

Shikamaru unlocked the elevator and waked in, quickly getting crushed by the other Shinobi. "Why not wait for the second elevator?"

"That would be wasting space," Neji said, ignoring Akamaru's tail hit his leg repeatedly.

Hinata was the last to walk in, finding herself pressed up against Naruto's solid chest and rock hard abs. The doors closed, squishing them even further. "Hinata, you're blushing. What's wrong?" Naruto said.

Hinata looked up at him, also realizing that he was several inches taller than her now. His voice was a tad deeper too. Hinata said nothing, trying to not bite her bottom lip. The doors opened, much to her relief. The eleven ninja and Akamaru spilled out of the elevator. "I'll get into contact with Tsunade and tell her that we found you," Shino said, heading with Shikamaru into their room. The ninja paired up, except for Kiba who went with Akamaru, and walked into their rooms.

Hinata and Naruto's room was a small, cramped room with one large bed taking up a majority of the space and a fairly sized television in the corner on a brown dresser. A door to the bathroom stood closed next to the room door. Hinata blushed again. There was only one bed. "Where are you going to sleep?"

"I'll just throw two pillows down and sleep on the floor," Naruto said. "It's no problem."

"Won't you be uncomfortable? We can always share-" Hinata bit her tongue to force herself to stop talking. "Excuse me," she said, rushing into the bathroom.

Naruto stared at the door. "What was that all about?" he mumbled.


	3. The Shinigami

**I own Nothing.**

**Long chapter ahead. Gl tyt, gl hf.**

**Warning: Read this one in chunks. It's about 15 500 words. **

Ichigo fastened his mask to his face as he flew over the bright skyline of Los Angeles at night. "Landing time and distance from Domino City."

"Thirty seconds until you land, then it's a ten mile walking distance," the ship's autopilot said. "Would you like to manually land?"

Ichigo took the control sticks, one controlling direction and the other one controlling the intensity of the rockets. "I'm going to try landing somewhere more remote," Ichigo said, seeing a small gathering of people pointing up at the rocket as it flew by. "I don't want the people down there to see me."

"Auto land: accepted," the autopilot said, turning the ship around.

"No! What are doing?!" Ichigo said, mashing the override button.

"You said 'auto land by the people', so that is what I'm doing."

"No!" Ichigo said. "Turn around! Turn around! You're as useless as XBOX voice commands!"

"Manual landing: accepted."

Ichigo latched onto the controls and turned around again, flying to the top of a chrome building peaking just above the clouds. Ichigo felt the landing pads touch the top of the building and released the controls. "Alright," he said, quickly changing into the rest of his armor so he wouldn't have to carry as much in the bag. He stepped out, sighing in relief as he walked onto Earthen soil. "It's good to be back," he said, taking a running leap off the building. As he landed hundreds of feet below, he slammed his fist into the sidewalk in front of the building. The ground shook and a very startled woman walking her dog hopped back, holding her lapdog in the air like she was wielding a weapon. Ichigo slowly rose to his feet in the black, ominous armor and the creepy, otherworldly mask. He stared directly at the woman. "No one is ever going to believe you." He walked past her, humming to himself as he continued down the street.

She started screaming and flailing down the street in the opposite direction.

"I forgot," Ichigo said. "I told myself to not use my powers unless it was an emergency." Ichigo looked around, looking around for any sign for a hotel or inn. It would be more than likely that a SHIELD agent with a beauty such as Mai's would be awake at this hour. He started walking down the sidewalk again, trekking into the early morning hours. He ended up in a residential suburb of the city, and he knew he was being watched. He stopped under a street light, waiting for the stalkers to reveal themselves. "Alright!" Ichigo said. "Come out and I won't have to come looking for you!"

A bullet rang into the morning sky, flying toward Ichigo.

Ichigo drew the black blade from Arulok in front of his face and stepped forward, cutting the bullet in half. Ichigo continued walking, entering a cul-de-sac. Sitting on the porches near the end of the road were nine light-skinned men with blonde hair, each sporting a swastika on their foreheads. They wielded baseball bats and each one moved their hand to an automatic pistol at their sides. Ichigo remembered something about Los Angeles. "Shit," Ichigo said, watching them stand up and walk towards him.

"You're quite slick with that blade of yours," a tenth man said behind him, poking his back with the barrel of a pistol. "That was a nice parlor trick you did with my bullet back there, but can you do it again?"

Ichigo found himself surrounded on all sides. "What race are you?" another gang member asked.

"Human," Ichigo said.

"Where are you from?" a third one asked.

"Planet Earth, dipshits," Ichigo spat. He hopped into the air, flipping backward and running toward the end of the street.

"Get the bastard!" one man shouted in a hillbilly accent.

Several black muscle cars rolled in front of the street, blocking Ichigo's path. Ten Asian men wearing suits and ties stepped out, letting out a barrage of bullets from automated pistols. Ichigo drew his sword again to block all the bullets. He cut through one of the cars and continued running. The Nazi gang members stopped in front of the cars. "Azukai? What the hell are you yellow shits doing on Fourth Reich territory?"

"We were here to kill you dumbasses until your prey cut up our car!" the Azukai member shouted back. "We kill you later! Kill him now!"

The Azukai climbed back into their cars, some members having to ride on the roofs, and drove off in pursuit. The Fourth Reich members climbed into pick-up trucks and followed suit.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Ichigo barked, being chased into the outskirts of the main city. "I need to lose them somehow," Ichigo said, sheathing his sword. He ran into the parking lot of a convenience store where all the cars were the same white model, each sporting "HR-31" on the back. Ten armed Hispanic men held up the store at gunpoint, pulling all of the money from the cash register. Ichigo's righteousness was going to make his situation much worse. "Shit!" Ichigo exclaimed, charging into the store and disarming all of the gang members in an instant. He dumped the bag of stolen money into the register again and slammed it closed. He threw three dollars on the table and placed a Mountain Dew and a pack of peppermint gum on the counter. "Hey! HR-31 sucks balls!" Ichigo said, running out of the store. He ran back in, throwing his food into his bag of belongings. "Forgot my snacks! Chase me, dumbasses!" He looked at the cashier, his eyes widening as he realized that the entire encounter had been captured on the pizza-faced kid's I-phone. He ran out of the store, followed by the ten HR-31 members. He ducked under a spray of bullets as he stood surrounded again by three different gangs. "I hope I don't get caught for this," Ichigo said, jumping as high as he could. The gang members looked up in frustration and awe as Ichigo landed on top of the convenience store. He jumped again, flying across the street and landing on top of a building thirty feet tall. "Try and keep up with me," he taunted to the gangs, running again.

"Momentary truce!" The leader of the group of HR-31 members said. "We kill him or sell him into slavery!"

The chase began again with bullets waking the citizens of Los Angeles as they hit around the tops of buildings. He started searching for a way out; three hours had passed and he had already failed to stay low profile. He hopped buildings again, but was quickly running out of rooftops. He hopped into the nearby alley. He looked toward the only exit to the dark, fenced alleyway. "I think I lost them," he said, reaching into his bag for the soda.

"You haven't escaped anybody yet." Out of the buildings to the right and left of Ichigo were ten African American men with handguns. They all wore only blue and some of them had tattoos on their arms labeled "P|E|R|K" or a teardrop tattooed under their left eye. "Who were you running from?"

"A bunch of your rivals, I'm guessing?" Ichigo said. "I recognize the Fourth Reich, HR-31, and the Azukai." He looked at their attire. _Shit._

"You must be new to LA." One of the gang members pulled Ichigo to his feet. "We're PERK. This is our turf, and trespassers don't leave alive."

"But I'm not on their side!" Ichigo said, drawing his sword.

"I can't take any more chances," he said, cocking his handgun.

Ichigo hopped into the air again, blocking more bullets and landing in the middle of the street. The other three gangs, with even more numbers now, caught up with him. Fifteen more PERK members filed out into the streets. Ichigo started counting. "One hundred," he said. "Shit!"

The gang leaders stepped forward, circling around Ichigo like sharks around their prey. "I say that this should not be the only time that we work together," the HR-31 leader said. "If we can combine our efforts, we can rule together."

"With the networks across the country, we would be bigger than the Mafia," the PERK leader said.

"No way am I teaming up with a nigger, a wetback, or a chink," the leader of the Fourth Reich said, getting three guns pointed at his face. The four leaders started to argue, giving Ichigo the opportunity to strike. Four quick jabs in the temple knocked them unconscious.

The other 96 gang members raised their weapons. "Don't make me attack you," Ichigo said, dropping his bag and falling into the Turtle stance.

The sound of 96 cocked guns made Ichigo realize there was only one way out of this. "You die," one HR-31 member said.

Ichigo's aura spiked, startling all of the gang members. "Shoot me, and I can't guarantee that all of you will go home alive!" The ground started to shake under Ichigo's feet as twenty police cars arrived, surrounding the gangs.

"Everybody freeze!" one cop shouted through his megaphone. "Peacefully place your hands above your head in an orderly fashion and no one will get hurt!"

"Kill the guy and the cops!" a member of the Fourth Reich barked, firing at the cop with the megaphone.

The cop dropped his megaphone and fell to the ground as the bullet pierced his leg. "That's it!" Ichigo said. "I don't care if I have to break your bones to make you fit inside the squad car, but none of you are getting away!" Ichigo preformed a series of hand signs. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he exclaimed, creating seven clones from smoke.

One of the cops near the back of the impending firefight scrambled for his pencil and notepad, quickly sketching the masked man brave or stupid enough to take on one hundred members of some of the most ruthless gangs in LA.

The Ichigo's deployed, making quick work of the members before most of them had the balls to throw an attack. All one hundred laid on the ground, unconscious with bruises and scratches. The clones vanished into smoke once again. He picked up his bag and walked up to the cop who had been shot. "Stay still; this may sting a little." He extended his hand and made a grabbing gesture. He slowly drew back, extracting the bullet and tossing it over his shoulder.

"I can get to a hospital! It might get infected!" the cop shouted. "Stop!"

A golden ball of chi shot from Ichigo's hand at the wound. "Stay still."

The wound healed itself, closing up like he had never been shot. The cop gawked at his leg. "How did you do that?!"

"Magic!" Ichigo said, twiddling his fingers.

A volley of camera flashes assaulted Ichigo as the news reporters arrived. He hopped back, watching cameramen from several stations quickly close in on him. A short, blonde news reporter pushed past the cameramen and stuck her microphone in Ichigo's face. "Who are you and why were you in the center of the gang fight?"

"I am The Swordsman. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Ichigo said. "Repeatedly."

"One of the policemen said that you split yourself into one hundred men and took down the gangs by yourself," she said. "Any comments about that?"

Ichigo jumped into the air, sailing over the media and policemen and started running again. "I have to find that SHIELD agent," he said, running into the downtown area once again.

"Buddy! Slow it down!" one man shouted as Ichigo rushed past him.

Ichigo ran on the side of a building, dodging a mom with her kids in a stroller. He ran for another mile then stopped to catch his breath in an alleyway, watching the media trucks rush past. "I have to find a hotel," he said to himself, reaching into the bag for his soda again.

"There's one on fiftieth street, three blocks west of here. It's where all the duelists here go before they enter Duel Academy." Two lanky guys with shaved heads and strange devices on their arms emerged from the shadows. A card deck sat in the center of the device with a tab over the top card. "You look a little tired," one of the men said. "Why don't my friend and I take your stuff off your hands."

The other man drew one card. "I summon Feral Imp!"

Out of a portal in the ground crawled out a short, scrawny demon with bright red skin and hooves.

The summoner's friend went to draw his card as well. "No," the summoner said. "I'll take this guy."

The Feral Imp charged at Ichigo, flailing its arms and shrieking. Ichigo drew his Arulokian blade, chopping the monster in half. "Are we done here?" Ichigo asked, sheathing his blade. "I'm not going to put up with this."

"You'd better draw before things get ugly-"

Ichigo dropped the bag and grabbed the two muggers by the throat, raising them into the air. "You little piles of shit better leave me alone before I waste you; got it?"

They both nodded.

"What is the name of the hotel?" Ichigo asked.

"The Waypoint," they said. "Now let us go!"

Ichigo threw them to the ground and grabbed his bag. He walked out of the alleyway and continued to fiftieth street until he found the tall, brown building with black doors. A bellhop standing outside in a green uniform labeled _The Waypoint _greeted him with a grin. "Would you like me to take your bag, sir?"

"No thank you," Ichigo said politely, opening the doors to the hotel. The hotel was larger on the inside, with a huge lobby with a roaring fireplace under a giant flat-screen television hanging on the wall. He scanned the hotel lobby for Mai, ignoring the strange looks of the other guests as he stood there in his ebony armor. He stared at the two elevator doors, waiting for his SHIELD operative to exit. _Nick said she'd be here!_

"May I help you, sir?" the lady at the front desk said.

"I would like to stay here until I can go to Duel Academy," Ichigo said. "Probably for one night."

"You know you're about two weeks late to class, right?" she said.

"I have some experience already," he said. "I have to compete in Dueling Kingdom."

"Alright, but I must warn you that Seto Kaiba, Maximillion Pegasus, and Yugi Muto are competing as well." She sighed. "With them in the tournament, I say that you don't have a chance."

"Do you want my money or not?" Ichigo said.

"All I'm saying is-"

"After I win, I'm coming back here to rub it in your face!" Ichigo said sharply, silencing the lobby.

"You have Room 3E on the sixth floor," the desk clerk said, quivering in fear as she handed him his room key.

The elevator doors opened, and a tall, curvaceous woman in her early twenties or late teens with green eyes, fair, flawless skin, light lavender eyes and long, voluminous, wavy, light blonde hair framing her pretty face pursed her thin, red lips as she walked out in her black high heels and purple jacket over a black tank top slightly revealing her cleavage. She looked Ichigo up and down. "You were on the news station this morning," she said in a smooth, sultry tone.

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo said, sweating under his armor. "No, I wasn't."

"Here's the guy who beat up those hoodlums this morning!" an old man said, turning the volume of the television all the way up.

Ichigo cringed and he slowly turned to television, watching his leap over the media and his escape from the scene. The next slide had a policeman's sketch of Ichigo with his Arulokian Blade drawn. "Although we did not get many words from The Swordsman in person, an anonymous source sent us raw footage of The Swordsman at work."

A shaky I-Phone camera showed Ichigo rushing into the convenience store, disarming the crooks with such speed that all the camera could catch was the glint of light bouncing off the black blade. Ichigo threw his breakfast down on the counter and ran out while insulting the HR-31. The scene changed back to the photogenic anchorman as Ichigo ran back in for his food. The old man glanced at Ichigo, looking again as he realized that the vigilante was in the hotel with him. "You're the Swordsman!" he exclaimed. "You moved so fast! You gotta show me how you did it!" he said, throwing punches into the air.

"Maybe another time," Ichigo said.

"Why would you want to hide something like that?" Mai said. "What are you trying to hide from everyone?" Mai headed toward the exit. "See you later, hero."

"Wait!" Ichigo exclaimed. "Ms. Valentine!"

Mai rolled her eyes and turned around. "Please don't tell me that you've fallen in love like the last eight guys."

Ichigo pulled his mask off. "It's me, Ichigo Kurosaki." He flashed his SHIELD badge. "You're supposed to take me to Duel Academy."

Mai looked surprised. "Nick Fury had me assume that you were just a snot-nosed brat who couldn't do anything for himself, and there you are defeating entire gangs."

Ichigo wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. "Nick Fury doesn't tell anyone much of anything, I'm guessing?"

"I was headed to the docks to wait for you," Mai said. "The next ship to the Academy leaves at noon."

"I thought the school was in Los Angeles," Ichigo said.

"The actual academy is on an island just off the coast," Mai said. "You'll be staying in a dorm."

"Good," Ichigo said. "I hate this city."

"Why?" Mai said. "You're seen as the city's hero."

"And an update on The Swordsman!" the anchorman on the television said, pulling the hotel's attention toward it. "Watch out, evildoers everywhere, The Swordsman was caught delivering the pain to the infamous Duel-Down Brothers earlier this morning. Thanks to another anonymous source, we were able to catch The Swordsman's amazing strength and power as he rendered the duo useless!"

"Let's get out of here," Ichigo said.

"I understand," Mai said. "Being in the limelight can be so overwhelming."

They walked to the docks where many early-morning beach goers swam in the calm ocean under the bright, hot sun. The ship was nowhere to be seen. "What time is it now?"

"About ten," Mai said. "We have about two hours to kill; let's go get tans."

"I'd rather go swimming," Ichigo said.

Mai was surprised at Ichigo's refusal.

"Sorry," Ichigo said. "I just like swimming in the ocean. It's very beneficial and can-"

"Well, have fun with that," Mai said, heading toward the small locker room near a sidewalk ramp leading into a bike trail going through the city. "I'm going to set up a lawn chair and beautify myself."

Ichigo entered the boy's locker room. Near the back was a workout room, where many musclebound, overly tanned men pumped iron. Ichigo took his breastplate and gauntlets off, putting them in his bag. Underneath his intimidating shell was a tall, muscular young man with a well-built, lean body. He wore a white tee shirt with Goku's kanji over his heart and a black drawing of his hollow mask smirking on the back.

A tall, bald man with muscles in disgusting proportions under a tight, yellow tank top and basketball shorts tried to brush past him, but could not move the Shinigami. Ichigo scowled as the stench of body spray, body odor defeating the purpose of the body spray, and energy drinks attacked his nostrils. "You got a problem, kid? When I'm walking toward you, I am above all others. You bow to me before any king."

"Sorry," Ichigo said, walking past the beach bully.

"Yeah, you better run!" he scoffed.

"I'm not running," Ichigo said calmly, walking into the fairly sized workout room.

"What did you say to me?" the beach bully said, continuing to pick at Ichigo.

Ichigo started stretching exercises facing away from the bully. "I wasn't running."

"Then why'd you walk off like a punk?" the bully said.

"Because I realized that you were probably too inept to speculate that you needed to move in a direction other than forward," Ichigo said.

"Are you calling me-"

"Yes," Ichigo interrupted, stuffing his bag inside a locker. A green aura surrounded his right hand. "Alteration: Aura Lock," Ichigo said, sealing the locker with magic. He walked out of the locker room.

"Get back here!" the bully said, rallying all of the other guys in the room and following Ichigo.

Ichigo looked around the beach for his SHIELD partner. She walked out of the girl's locker room, making the beach bully's jaw drop. Ichigo blushed again, feeling more and more awkward as the voluptuous agent in the small, purple bikini walked up to him. "What's the matter?"

"The matter is that peach-head here is about to lose his girlfriend," the beach bully said.

"She's not my girlfriend," Ichigo said.

Mai gasped. "Do you know how many men would _die_ to be my boyfriend?"

"Step aside, punk, and let a real man show her a good time," the beach bully said.

Ichigo refused to move.

"Get out of my way." The beach bully put his hand on his shoulder. "Or you might get stomped."

"I'll move when I want to," Ichigo said.

The beach bully snorted. He grinned at Mai. "C'mon babe, tell this fag to go back home to his mother before I destroy him."

"His mother's probably dead," the bully's friend said. "The bitch probably died of grief after giving birth to this little piece of shit."

Ichigo grimaced. He slowly turned around. "Looks like you finally got to him," the bully said.

The beach bullies started laughing. Ichigo turned to Mai. "I'm going to buy some swim trunks and some sandals," he said, pointing toward the little stand labeled _Sandals n' Surfboards _in the middle of the sidewalk before the ramp. "Just a second." He walked up to the stand.

A tan man with shaggy, blonde hair and a bored expression on his face waved to him. "Welcome to Sandals n' Surfboards, the best place to get sandals, swim trunks, and surfboards. What would you like today?"

He grabbed a pair of white and red trunks and black sandals.

"That'll be twenty nine," the cashier sighed, "ninety nine."

Ichigo reached into the wallet in the pocket of his armor loins and placed a fifty dollar bill on the counter. "Keep the change."

The cashier's face lit up. "Awesome!" he exclaimed. "Thanks, dude!"

Ichigo pushed past the bullies to get back in the locker room and changed, throwing the rest of his armor into the bag. He walked back outside, stepping in between the main bully and Mai. "Let's go."

"Who bought you those sandals?" another bully said. "Your mom?"

Ichigo's fists tightened.

"Leave him alone," Mai said. "Pulls your heads out of your behinds before I-"

"No," Ichigo said. "If these bastards want a fight so badly," his eyes turned blue. "I'll give it to them."

"What was that?" the leader of the bullies said. "You want to fight me?"

"No," Ichigo said.

"That's what I thought-"

"I want to fight all of you at once," Ichigo said.

"Hey, boys!" the ringleader said. "Let's beat this shit to a pulp! Every one of us gets a turn."

Ichigo fazed out, reappearing twenty feet away. The rush of wind following made Mai's long hair blow behind her. _I didn't see him move!_ Mai thought to herself, turning around and seeing Ichigo with his arms folded. _Even so, it's twenty against one._ She remembered that he was The Swordsman. _Wait, who am I kidding? They are going to get destroyed!_

"I'm waiting," Ichigo said.

The ringleader and his buddies formed a line, some of the bullies still using barbells, dumbbells, and other weights. "Me first," the leader said.

"I thought you were all fighting together," Ichigo said.

"It'll just take me to show you!" The leader charged, throwing a punch with all his might.

Ichigo hopped over him, letting him lose his balance and fall into the sand. Ichigo glared at the second man in line. "You were the one who insulted my mother."

Ichigo stepped back, slamming his elbow into the ringleaders stomach. The leader's right-hand man charged next as he fell to the ground. Ichigo blocked two punches and knocked him to the ground with a sweep kick. As he rose, he sent a palm strike into the leader's chin. "Surround him!" the leader barked.

Ichigo didn't even bother with falling into stance as the twenty muscly men circled him. "For now, I won't even use my arms."

"Take him out!" the leader shouted, sending his men into a frenzy.

Ichigo spun around, kicking them all faster than they could see. Ichigo scoffed as they fell to the ground, five of them in too much pain to get up. The other fifteen charged again. Ichigo blocked a kick headed toward his groin. "This really isn't fair, I admit," Ichigo said, sending a punch into his opponent's nose and breaking it on impact. Ichigo started moving at his speed, knocking seven more men unconscious before they hit the ground. The leader and the other seven hopped back, staring at Ichigo in fear.

"Grab some metal!" the leader ordered, picking up two barbells and charging toward him again. Ichigo sent a powerful punch into the leader's chest, feeling the sternum bend as he followed through, blowing him fifty feet back.

"That's it! I'm tired of this!" the other seven pulled out knives. "I'm gonna kill you!"

Ichigo fazed out, snatching all of the knives out of their hands. Four of them ran for the hills, deciding that it wasn't worth it. Ichigo caught a dumbbell thrown at him and snapped it in half. The last three fell back, scrambling backward like crabs. Ichigo spiked his aura, smirking as his eyes turned completely black. He held his palm out, forming a red ball of chi over it. "You have ten seconds."

After they finished pissing themselves, they ran off. Ichigo's eyes reverted to their normal color and his aura faded. Ichigo started thinking of his mother again and he grit his teeth, desperately trying to hold back tears. "Bravo, Ichigo!" Mai said. "I couldn't have done it better myself!"

Ichigo wiped away the tears on his face before anyone could see them and managed a fake grin. "Thank you," he said. "They needed someone to tear them down eventually."

"I don't think they'll be forgetting this experience any time soon," Mai said. She checked her clock. "It's eleven twenty. I'm going to go tan now; meet me here at fifteen minutes to twelve."

Ichigo nodded and ran into the ocean, swimming as far out as he could. He swam back about twenty minutes later and walked into the locker room. Some of the bullies cowered as he entered. Ichigo grabbed his belongings and left promptly, watching a blue ferry dock itself in the sand. A wooden ramp extended from the front of the ship to the ground. "Ms. Valentine! The boat is here!" he shouted. He looked around the beach and closed his eyes, seeing Mai's silhouette running toward him with hundreds of men behind her. Ichigo rolled his eyes and jumped into the air, seeing her run down the street in a brand new dress with shopping bags from numerous expensive clothing stores in each hand.

"Ichigo!" she cried out. "Help me! I'm too sexy for them and now they've gone insane!"

Ichigo landed in the middle of the street, grabbing her around her waist with one arm and jumping backward, landing on the deck of the ship. "Come back, Mai!" one man shouted. "I love you!"

"I'll get the captain to leave early," Mai said. "Try to keep the men at bay!"

A golden aura surrounded Ichigo's hands. _I've never tried a ward before; let's try a weak one._ Ichigo raised his hands over his head, making a golden barrier of chi surround the ramp. The army of men bumped into the ward again and again, refusing to give up on love.

The ferry started moving at full speed and the ward collapsed. Mai ran to the upper deck. "How did you manage to-"

"Magic!" Ichigo exclaimed, twiddling his fingers.

Mai wrapped Ichigo in a bear hug, lifting him into the air. "Thank you so much, you are a lifesaver!" She cleared her throat and put him down, regaining her cool attitude. "Anyway, we should be at the island in ten minutes."

Ichigo and Mai stood in awkward silence the entire trip. "We will be arriving at Duel Academy in less than thirty seconds," the captain said. "Prepare to dock."

Mai pulled a folded piece of paper out of her expensive crocodile-skin purse and handed it to Ichigo. "Here's your schedule, map, ID tag and locker number." She reached into one of her numerous shopping bags, pulling out a white short-sleeved shirt with black dress pants, a black tie, black dress shoes, and a red jacket with _Slifer Dorm_ in black lettering on the back. "This is your uniform," Mai said. "Try not to get it too dirty," she said. "When I went here three years ago, they didn't have a laundry room." She also handed him a black backpack filled with five notebooks, folders, pencils, and other school supplies. "These were all supplied by SHIELD, so after you thank Nick Fury for me as your partner, thank him for this."

"Three years ago?" Ichigo said. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen," Mai said. "No, I won't date you. Not yet at least, you definitely have a better chance than a lot of other men."

"I wasn't about to ask you that but okay-"

"Now I teach here during the summer." She grinned. "I have you in first hour tomorrow. Classes run from noon to six, and I don't accept late students or late homework."

"I'm the top student in my high school," Ichigo said. "I'll take whatever you can throw at me."

"We're a bit confident, aren't we?" Mai looked at the clock just above the hall leading into the staircases. "It's 11:58 now," she said. "You have just over a minute to get to my class or receive a failure for the day."

The boat softly docked. Ichigo fazed out, reappearing seconds later in the Slifer Dorm uniform. "I think you're forgetting how fast I can move."

"11:59," Mai said.

Ichigo disappeared again, running as fast as he could through the tropical island on the dirt roads. He approached a golden gate where a man in a white suit in an ID check booth waved at him. "Show me your ID! You have thirty seconds!"

Ichigo flashed his ID tag and disappeared again, rushing past other students in red, yellow, or blue jackets over their uniforms running to make it to class. He stopped in a cobblestone courtyard with a fountain in the center with card-wielding baby cherubs spitting out water back into the fountain. Surrounding Ichigo were four buildings, each styled like a small Victorian-era castle built out of white marble. Banners declaring each house hung on the four pillars in front of the doors at the top of each set of stairs. A pole by the fountain had a ring of speakers near the top to broadcast announcements. Ichigo looked at the map again, rushing down the road between two of the dorms on the west side. He quickly approached the larger version of the dorms that combined high school and middle school classes, bursting through the wooden double doors and up the set of stairs into the high school floors. Ichigo spiked his aura and burst down the wide hallways filled with green lockers and motivational posters, reaching the heavy, wooden door on the end with "Ms. Valentine: HAP Duel Strategy" on a miniature white board stuck two feet above the brass handle. He stepped into the room just as the bell rang.

"Just in time," Mai said, writing an opening activity on the board. Her attire was completely different; she wore her hair up in a large, elegant, side-bun with red, thin-rimmed glasses with her bangs framing the side of her glasses. She wore a purple dress jacket over a pink, low-cut blouse and olive green skirt reaching just below her knees. Her black high heels were now purple like her jacket.

"How did you get here before me?!" Ichigo said.

"I walked like I had a purpose," Mai said. "Everyone, this is Ichigo Kurosaki. Ichigo, why don't you tell the class a little about yourself."

Ichigo turned to the rest of his classmates. "Hello, I-"

"Can we get to the lesson already?" a tall, fair-skinned young man with short, brown hair and cold, brown eyes interrupted. "We don't need to know about Slifer Red Dorm scum because the world won't know. They'll die along with their useless decks."

The other Obelisk Blue Dorm students chuckled. A majority of the class was from Obelisk Blue.

"Seto Kaiba," Mai said sharply. "Be patient. We all know that you and Yugi don't get along."

Kaiba scowled.

Ichigo sat down in the middle row, next to a tall, light skinned French girl with long blonde hair with bangs curling at the ends and emerald eyes. She and Kaiba both wore blue jackets with _Obelisk Blue _in white over their uniforms. "Dude," the kid behind Ichigo tapped him on the shoulder. Ichigo turned around, seeing a boy his age of average height with fair skin, short silvery hair and blue eyes. "Don't let Seto get to you. He's just determined to win Dueling Kingdom. He's actually a pretty rockin' dude."

Ichigo grinned. "Thanks; and you are?"

"Aster Phoenix," he said. "I can't wait to duel you, brah."

"Decks on your desks," Mai said.

Ichigo placed his deck of fifty cards on his desk. The French girl next to him stared at the decks. "What deck do you run?" she said in a thick, French accent.

"A custom deck," Ichigo said. "How about-"

"Sherry LeBlanc," Mai said. "Your deck."

The French girl's eyes widened as she whipped her deck out of her pocket and placed it in the upper-right corner of her desk. Mai started reading the opening activity. "If you have the first move in a duel and you do not recognize your opponent or his deck, what would be the best course of action?"

Seto's hand shot up.

"Seto," Mai said.

"I would start by playing a strong, normal monster in face-up attack position and set a few traps or spells to provide my spell and trap zone enough ambiguity to where my opponent would not dare to attack," Seto spat out.

"Would anyone like to add anything to that?" Mai said.

Ichigo was the only one who raised his hand.

"Ichigo," Mai said.

"I would set an effect monster whose effect is activated once targeted by a spell or attack or set a monster with a high defense and some trap cards or quick play spells to counter any action of my opponent." Ichigo received a glare from Kaiba. "You could also set a monster that once it's destroyed it activates another monster's effects from your hand or deck."

"You cannot tell what will be in your hand," Seto retorted.

"Then by your logic, your answer is more incorrect because what Ichigo said is put in more practical terms," the short, pale-skinned boy with long, straight, dark blue hair and eyes said. He sat directly behind Seto, tapping his pencil on his desk.

"Zane, you make no sense," Kaiba said. "What I say is true; after our duel with your pitiful Cyber Dragon deck, my strategy is the best."

"What I'm saying is that Ichigo provides a variety of strategies for all types of decks," Zane said. "Not just yours."

"For somebody as good of a duelist as you, why are you here?" Ichigo asked, not prepared to tolerate another jerk today.

"We duel at lunch, Ichigo," Seto said coldly. "I will humiliate you and your entire dorm in under five moves."

"I'll show you no mercy, Kaiba," Ichigo said bluntly.

"Sweet!" Aster said. "I'm in on this!"

"The real answer is that there is no best course of action," Mai said. "You will never know what someone will do on the first turn if they are new to you, but remember that your opponent has to deal with the same problem." She started writing the lesson plan on the board. "Today you will be taking notes on the pros and cons of level nine or higher effect monsters and how you can structure a deck through ratios to meet the legal minimum limit of 50 cards per deck."

Ichigo pulled a green notebook out of his backpack along with the matching folder and mechanical pencil. He was surprised as he furiously scribbled the notes in his notebook. _I don't think even Goku can write this fast!_ Ichigo thought to himself, barely keeping up with Mai.

The bell rung, and the entire classroom sighed in relief. Mai handed the students homework on the way out. "This is due at the start of class, no excuses! Have a good day."

"Ichigo! Wait up, dude!" Aster said, being able to stop by Ichigo's locker. "What class do you have next?"

"HAP Summoning with Ms. Fontaine," Ichigo said, showing the bag with all of Ichigo's belongings including his swords in his locker.

"Bummer," Aster said. "Oh well, see you at lunch!" Aster ran to class.

Ichigo ran up another flight of stairs, following the line of students into Ms. Fontaine's classroom. Ichigo sat in a desk behind a short, fair-skinned teen with spiky, brown hair and brown eyes. He also wore a red jacket with _Slifer Dorm_ on the back. Ichigo looked up at the teacher at her desk. She was a tall, thin, fair-skinned woman in her early thirties with long brown hair that was entirely straight, except for the one wavy tuft that hung over her forehead. Her gray eyes locked onto Ichigo. "You are the new student, yes?" she said with a French accent.

Ichigo stood up. "Yes. I am Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Did you say Ichigo Kuro-sucky?" a short, fat young man with brown eyes and spiky, black hair that pushed its way out of his backward baseball cap said. He wore the _Slifer Dorm_ jacket as well.

"Bronk, I will not tolerate that in my classroom," Ms. Fontaine snapped. "Do it again and suffer the consequences."

Bronk held back laughter.

"In this class, there is a lot of hands-on practice, so have your deck ready to summon a few creatures." Fonda grinned. "I bet you will have a lot of fun here."

Ichigo grinned. "I've been waiting to show someone my deck for a while now."

"You're in the Slifer dorm," a light-skinned girl of average height with long, straight brown hair and blue eyes said. She wore a yellow jacket with _Ra Dorm_ on the back. "What could you possibly do to impress us?"

"Do not underestimate him, Adena," Ms. Fontaine said. "Remember what happened when you dueled Jaden."

The boy in front of Ichigo received an angry glare from Adena.

"Once I take attendance, we can push the desks back and begin our lesson on strength in numbers." Ms. Fontaine returned to her desk as talking among the students began.

"So what deck do you run?" Jaden asked, turning around to face the new student.

"Mainly a custom deck," Ichigo said, "but I have five other decks that I use for fun."

"A custom deck?" the tall, tan, Japanese teen with brown eyes and brown hair in an ivy-league buzzcut said. He wore a yellow jacket like Adena's. "Is it a good deck?"

Ichigo turned around to face him. "I think they're alright," Ichigo said.

"Alright won't win Dueling Kingdom," he said. "By the way, my name's Tristan."

"Push the desks back," Ms. Fontaine said.

The class stood up and shoved the desks to the back of the room.

"Now we may begin," the teacher said. "Ichigo, if you are still so eager, please summon a monster for the class."

Ichigo walked to the front of the class with his deck in his pocket. "Deck: Draw Evolsaur Cerato!"

A card flew from his pocket and into his hand. The class stared at him with their jaws on the floor.

"Good," Ms. Fontaine said. "You have high spiritual energy, it seems."

"I summon Evolsaur Cerato!" Ichigo threw his card on the ground, watching a golden ring of light surround it. A velociraptor with black scales and orange underbelly with tiny, orange wings emerged from the portal, emitting a roar to the class.

"Next, draw a level five or higher monster."

"Draw: Jurrac Herra!" Ichigo said. Another card flew from his pocket into his hand.

Ms. Fontaine handed him a spell card. "That card will allow you to summon a second monster this turn or in the remaining four and a half minutes of real time."

"Double Summon," Ichigo said, throwing down the spell card of the same name. The card turned to sand and flew into the teacher's back pocket. Ichigo's level six monster card started glowing with a blue aura.

"Now, tribute your level four monster to summon Jurrac Hera," the teacher said, drawing a few cards of her own.

Ichigo threw Jurrac Herra on the ground, causing a second ring of light to form around Evolsaur Cerato. The level four monster crumbled into a pile of sand as the higher-level monster emerged; it was a small tyrannosaurus outfitted with golden armor and black pipes stemming from its shoulder blades that breathed fire. "What now, Ms. Fontaine?"

The teacher set a monster face down horizontally, stepping back as it grew larger. "Tell your monster to attack mine."

Ichigo nodded. "Attack her face down monster," he ordered.

Jurrac Herra roared and bit into the unknown monster. The card started to glow as it morphed into its monster. A short, pale-skinned elf dressed in a red robe and blue pants raised a green, moldy staff as it cackled maniacally. "I activate Old Vindictive Magician's effect: when this card is flipped face-up for any reason, select one monster on the field and destroy that target."

Jurrac Herra's eyes widened. It cried one last roar before exploding into sand.

"Do you know what would have happened if you would have waited to summon another level four monster before attacking me?" Ms. Fontaine asked.

"I would have been able to attack you directly," Ichigo said, "and if the blow was hard enough, take you out in one hit."

"Very good," Ms. Fontaine said. "Wasn't that fun? Now sit down so you can take some boring notes."

Ichigo bowed to his opponent, even if it was just a demonstration, and walked toward his seat. "Graveyard, return to deck."

Sand flew from his back pocket and his entire deck floated above his head. The sand glued itself together, forming his cards again.

"Shuffle." Ichigo's deck followed his orders, reordering itself and returning to Ichigo's front pocket.

He sat down and started taking notes in a black notebook. The bell rang about an hour later. "How did you do that?" Adena asked, stopping Ichigo before he went down the staircase.

"Do what?" Ichigo said.

"Manipulate the cards like that," Adena said. "Ms. Fontaine said that you had high spiritual energy, so you must have some kind of secret."

"Well, I don't-"

"Tell me how you did it and I'll go out with you," Adena said.

Ichigo stepped away from her. "I have to get to class."

"I know you think I'm hot!" Adena shouted. "Date me and boost your social status, you nerd!"

"I'll think about it," Ichigo said, rushing down the stairs. He looked at his schedule. "Ms. Tredwell's class is right here," he said, turning into a large room with a huge blackboard with long columns of writing like geometric or trigonometric proofs.

A tall woman with light-blue eyes and long black hair with her bangs parted finished another column of writing then grabbed a ladder to start a new one. Her outfit consisted of two necklaces, an elegant dress of green, white and yellow and strap-on high heels.

"Ms. Tredwell," Ichigo said.

"Yes?" Ms. Tredwell turned to face him. A devilish grin spread across Ms. Tredwell's face. "Ichigo Kurosaki," she said in an ominous tone. "It's about time you arrived."

Ichigo stepped away from her, feeling a dark presence surround her. He started to look closer, seeing a pale, white, bony film start to form around her face. Ichigo bit his tongue before he cursed. "Not here," he said. His eyes turned blue. "Ms. Tredwell, I'm the new student here. I'm very serious about my education."

Ms. Tredwell's eyes turned black, but it seemed like Ichigo was the only one who could see it. "You'll fit right in," the thing inside her snarled. "Sit down."

"Do you not know what I am?" Ichigo asked.

"Human," it hissed.

"Shinigami," Ichigo replied, hopping forward and hitting Ms. Tredwell in the chin faster than anything in the room could see. A tall, black Hollow flew out of her mouth and bared its teeth at Ichigo.

"You cannot stop us!" the Hollow growled.

Ichigo extended his palm. "I'd suggest you crawl back into your hole." His aura spiked, shaking the entire building. "Before I put you there."

The Hollow charged, getting eviscerated by a white wave of light. Ms. Tredwell gasped, falling off the ladder. Ichigo fazed out, catching her before she hit the ground. He turned toward the classroom, seeing a bunch of students clinging onto their desks. "Ms. Tredwell!" a tall, spiky-haired adolescent with tan skin, blue eyes, and a red jacket said, rushing from his desk. His spiky hair was black with gold highlights and he had a lightly muscular physique. A faded scar ran under his left eye and turned sharply at his cheekbone. "Are you alright?"

"I'm alright, Yusei," Ms. Tredwell said in an English accent. "The new student is quite light on his feet."

Ichigo set his teacher on her feet. "I took some martial arts classes when I was younger."

"But you did that through the tremor," Yusei said. "There was enough force to topple one of the bookshelves."

"Okay, I'm still taking martial art classes." Ichigo extended his hand. "Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Yusei Fudo." Yusei shook his hand and sat down in the front row.

Ichigo took the seat next to him. Ms. Tredwell stared at Ichigo, looking very concerned and fascinated like he was a specimen under a microscope. "Class, let us welcome Ichigo Kurosaki." She continued to stare at him. "I know he is going to be a good addition to the HAP Chaining team, so let's make the learning environment good for everyone." She finished another column of writing on the board. "Who would like to demonstrate their multi-step chain assignment from last night?"

Two hands from the second row shot up. "We will." Two girls in yellow jackets rushed to the front of the class.

"Tea, Tori, you may begin when ready."

Tea was a light-skinned girl of average height with blue eyes and brown hair just reaching her shoulders. Her partner was shorter with long, wavy green hair partially done in a sideways bun and the rest reaching past her shoulders. Her big, hazel eyes sifted through her deck. "Found them," she said, drawing a few cards.

Tea set a monster face down. "You ready?"

Tori placed a few spells or traps face down. "One: I play Swords of Revealing Light!"

A ring of glowing swords fell around the monster card. Tea flipped her monster card over. "Two: because of Tori's card effect, I activate Tsurugi's effect!"

A golden ring surrounded Tsurugi's card as a short, light-skinned woman in pink robes wielding a sword of ice emerged from the portal. Her eyes turned green as a green aura surrounded the cards. A green beam of energy shot out from the cards at Tori. "Three: I play Barrel Behind the Door!"

One of the trap cards flipped over and a giant, golden handgun appeared from a portal to suck all of the energy into its barrel. The gun fired the energy bullet at Tea. "Four: I play Seven Tools of the Bandit!" One of the trap cards on her side of the field flipped over. A large, red Swiss knife with cockroach antennae and legs bounced the energy bullet back toward the gun. "Five: I activate Rainbow Life!" Tea flipped a second card over and became coated in a rainbow aura as the cockroach reared its head back to bite her.

"Six: I activate Trap Poison!" Tori said, flipping over a card. A gray beam fired toward Tea's rainbow aura and the cockroach.

"Seven: I activate Energy Absorbing Monolith!" Tea said, flipping over another trap card. A black cube rose from the portal, turning the gray beam into a white beam of healing energy.

"Eight: I activate Judgment of the Righteous!" Tori said, flipping over the last card and negating the Monolith while stabbing Tsurugi in the chest. Tsurugi turned to dust.

"And that's that," Tea said.

"Excellent," Ms. Tredwell said. "Yusei, why don't you and Akiza demonstrate your chain."

"Gladly," Akiza said confidently from the back of the room, following Yusei to the front of the class. Akiza was a tall girl of average height wearing a yellow jacket. She had brown eyes and dark burgundy hair that barely touched her shoulders with the addition of long, elbow-length bangs that framed both sides of her face.

Yusei and Akiza drew their cards and started chaining, making it up to fifteen before Ms. Tredwell told them to stop. Yusei rolled out of the way of a red beam of energy and cringed as it crashed through the window. "I apologize," he said.

"It's fine," Ms. Tredwell said. "We are used to it here."

Yusei and Akiza sat down. "You guys were awesome!" Ichigo said.

"Thanks," Akiza said, sticking her tongue out at Tori.

"Don't be immature," Ms. Tredwell said. "Use your energy to copy the notes I posted on the board."

Ichigo swallowed as he stared at the hulking size of the blackboard. He quickly reached for the red notebook in his backpack and started writing. The bell rang after what seemed like hours of notes and mini-lectures. Ichigo took a sigh of relief and flexed his hand.

"Get used to it," Yusei said. "She usually puts more on the board." Yusei slung his backpack over his shoulder. "You might want to hurry; the lunch lines get long pretty quickly."

"That being said, let's not stick around," Akiza said, grabbing Yusei's arm.

"Dudes!" Aster stuck his head into the room. "Ichigo versus Seto in the gym!" Aster waved to Ichigo. "What's up, bro? Seto's making his way to the gym now!"

"You're dueling Kaiba?" Yusei said. "I want to see this!" He ran out of the room, leaving Ichigo behind.

Ichigo headed toward the exit. "Ichigo," Ms. Tredwell said, "we need to talk." The door closed on its own, leaving a confused Aster waiting outside.

Ichigo turned around. "Yes, Ms. Tredwell?"

"What are you?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"I feel spiritually cleansed and your eyes were brown when you walked in," she said.

"My eyes were always blue," Ichigo lied.

"I can tell you're lying," she said. "In fact, I see you right now. You are wearing black robes with a large sword sheathed on your back. Zangetsu, I believe."

Ichigo folded his arms. "This is nonsense."

"You killed two Espada by yourself and found your main deck on Arulok, am I right?"

Ichigo's eyes widened.

"Are you here to take my soul, Shinigami?" she asked. "Or are you a Hollow? Are you here to save me or devour me for yourself?"

Mai was going to kill him for this. His eyes changed from blue to brown. "I am a Shinigami," Ichigo said. He dragged his hand down the left side of his face, revealing his Hollow side. "I also host a Hollow."

Ms. Tredwell grinned. "Good," she said. "Make sure you can control it."

"We've been working on it," Ichigo said, dragging his hand down the left side of his face again and eliminating the mask.

"There's a storm coming," Ms. Tredwell said. "Finding the Dragonballs won't save you entirely; they will provide you little relief."

"What is coming?" Ichigo asked.

"I do not know," Ms. Tredwell said. "When you get back to Konoha, ask the boy named Trunks."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "How do you know all of this?"

"I have been cursed to know the past, present, and future of a person by looking at them."

"What's my future?" Ichigo asked.

"If you fight as you are now..." Ms. Tredwell's expression turned grave. "You need to train a lot harder if you want to succeed."

"For what?"

Ms. Tredwell stood up and the door opened. "Come on," she said, "you have a duel to win."

Ichigo had the feeling that the rest of the search for the Dragonballs was not going to be a cakewalk. Ichigo put his notebook in his locker and followed Aster to the large gymnasium acting as a basketball court. "How many people did you tell about the duel?" Ichigo asked.

"New guy versus the Seto Kaiba?" Aster said. "The whole school is here!" Aster and Ms. Tredwell sat in the bleachers.

Ichigo's jaw dropped. "The whole school?!"

"Ichigo!" Mai ran down from the bleachers. "I was thinking that you might not show up."

"Same here," Seto said, walking up to his peer. "I'll give you one last chance to back out before I destroy you."

"You're too arrogant," Ichigo said. "I'll use my main deck."

"What, am I supposed to be honored?" Kaiba said. The rest of the Obelisk Blue dorm fell in behind him. "You're nothing but a spiky-haired ginger freak with a mouth bigger than his brain. "I'm going to crush you."

"I wouldn't be too certain," Yusei said from the bleachers, leading Bronk, Jaden, and the rest of Slifer Red to support the underdog.

"You're one to talk, you brown-haired douche who's always on the rag," Bronk said. "My buddy here is gonna whip you like you stole something!"

Ra Yellow stood divided as the staff silently watched, secretly betting on who would prevail. Mai stood between the two fired up adolescents. "Let's just have a clean duel," Mai said, suddenly in a referee's outfit and sneakers with her hair in a ponytail. "No banned cards and no aid from any other dorm members. Got it?"

Ichigo and Seto nodded. "Watch me shame your dorm, Yugi."

Ichigo turned around, seeing a tall adolescent with fair skin, brown eyes, and insanely spiky hair that consisted of multiple layers including long blond crooked, pointy locks for his fringe; the rest featured a set of five large spikes and two smaller spikes colored black with a magenta sheen along the edges. "I doubt it," he said with an unusually deep voice for someone his age. "I'm behind you all the way, Ichigo!"

Ichigo grinned. "It's been a long time, Yugi."

"We'll catch up later," Yugi said. "Right now, beat Kaiba!"

Ichigo nodded. He turned back to Kaiba. "Are you two ready?" she asked, handing them duel devices similar to scouters.

He fastened the red scouter to his face, reading 8000 in two columns. "I'm guessing those are life points."

"Yeah, stupid!" one member of Obelisk Blue shouted. "Haven't you seen a Duel Scouter before?"

"Shake hands, or bow, depending on what your custom is," Mai said.

Ichigo bowed to his opponent in the traditional Chinese way.

Seto did not return the gesture. "Let's make this quick."

Slifer Red and Obelisk Blue returned to the bleachers, leaving Ichigo and Seto on the gym floor. A short, stout teacher with a twitch stood in between them with a coin."It's time to d-d-d-d-d," he paused. "D-d-d-d-duel!" He flipped the coin, landing on heads. "Seto Kaiba, your move!"

Obelisk Blue cheered. "Go get 'em Kaiba!"

"Don't give in, Ichigo!" Aster shouted. "Man! This is gonna be so rad!"

Ichigo and Seto ran to opposite ends of the gym.

Seto pressed a button on his wristwatch and hopped back as five steel blade-like devices fanned out like a shield. Seven slots, each the size for a full deck of cards, appeared on the half-disc on Kaiba's arm. He placed his deck in the end slot near his hand and the device lit up with a blue aura. He drew six cards and looked at his hand. "I'm afraid that this was over before it even began," Seto said. He set one trap face-down and gripped one card between his fingers. "However, I feel like giving my friends a show, so I won't end you too quickly. I summon Cave Dragon!" he exclaimed, throwing his monster card down.

Out of the portal came a short but long, bulky dragon with green and yellow scales and two horns on the top of its head. Its loud roar shook the gymnasium. Ichigo looked at his hand of five cards and smirked. "Are you sure you wanna do that?"

"I end my turn," Seto said.

"Deck: draw!" Ichigo's cards swirled around him as if they were enchanted, which they were, amazing his fellow students. He drew his sixth card. Ichigo set two traps and prepared to play his monster. "Underestimating me was an awful mistake!" he shouted. "I summon Goblindbergh!"

A little green goblin in a red fighter plane flew out of the portal and around the gym. "His effect allows me to summon a level four or lower monster from my hand." Ichigo grabbed another card from the air and threw it on the ground. "I special summon Axe Dragonute!" A tall, sleek, black dragon with steel armor over its wings and head appeared from a second portal and joined Goblindbergh in flight. "I'm not finished yet," Ichigo said. "I special summon Kagetokage using its effect!" A black, shadowy gecko with red eyes crawled out from a third portal.

"So?" Kaiba said. "You only have one monster that could attack my Cave Dragon!"

"Keep your pants on! You'll get to lose soon enough!" Ichigo smirked as his dorm laughed and Obelisk Blue booed. "I overlay Goblindbergh and Kagetokage!" Ichigo said, watching a white light surround Goblindbergh and a black aura emanate from Kagetokage.

Kaiba's eyes widened as the crowd went silent. "An Xyz summon already?!"

"I summon Number 39: Utopia!" Ichigo said. The pilot and the lizard smashed together, morphing into a tall, muscular, angelic warrior with paper-white skin in golden and platinum armor covering his body and wings. A red "39" was on his right shoulder. Utopia reached into a large sheath on his back, wielding a blade that looked very similar to Zangetsu. Two shining, red orbs pushed their way out of Utopia's skin and onto his back. "Now, as an added bonus, I summon Utopia Ray using his first effect!"

He threw a second card on top of Utopia's card on the ground, doubling Utopia's height and bulk while changing his sword into a war hammer. His white skin turned gray and his armor faded to black. Gold plated the shoulder pads and pauldrons along with golden-toed boots. Three shining, yellow orbs appeared on his back. Kaiba smirked. "You can attack me now, you know. His attack is 2500 compared to Cave Dragon's 2000. Go ahead; draw first blood."

"Believe me, I intend to." Ichigo threw the last card in his hand down. "But let's get rid of that trap!"

_Crap! _Kaiba thought as green tornado spun up from its portal and proceeded to swallow his trap. Seto grit his teeth as he fought back the harsh winds. "You'll pay for that!"

The tornado died and the card turned into sand, returning to its owner's back pocket. "I activate Utopia Ray's effect! I increase its attack by 1000 and lower your dragon's attack by 500 until the end of my turn!" Utopia Ray's gray aura spiked as the light from one of the orbs drained.

"That's a 2000 point difference!" Yugi said.

"Now," Ichigo said. "Utopia Ray, attack Cave Dragon!"

Utopia Ray let out a battle cry and charged with his hammer, caving Cave Dragon's skull in with one fell swing. Golden blood and sand sputtered out of the Cave Dragon's mouth before it morphed into a pile of sand. Seto's life force on Ichigo's scouter went down by 2000 points.

"Axe Dragonute, attack Kaiba's life points directly!" Ichigo ordered.

Axe Dragonute dived headfirst toward Kaiba, using its roar to knock him down and take away another 2000 life points. "Half of Kaiba's life points are gone in only the first move!" Mai exclaimed, making Slifer Red erupt in cheering and Obelisk Blue start booing and jeering.

"I end my turn," Ichigo said. "Your move, Kaiba."

Kaiba drew a card. "I summon Kaibaman!" he exclaimed. A tall, skinny man with long brown hair and a white and red suit appeared from a portal on the ground. "Now I use his effect!"

Kaibaman bowed before turning into a pile of sand.

"I summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my deck!" he said, smirking as a giant, glimmering dragon with bright, sky blue scales and blue eyes (as the name would suggest) rose from Kaibaman's sand and burst into the air. He roared as he and Axe Dragonute flew around the gymnasium. He gripped a spell card in his hand. "Now I use Ancient Rules and summon a second Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my hand!"

A second Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared from the portal of Ancient Rules, joining its brother in the chase of Ichigo's monster.

He played another spell card with a depiction of a black mountain. "Dragon Mountain allows me to summon another Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my deck along with increasing my monsters' attacks by 200!"

A third Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared from the portal of Dragon Mountain as the ground changed, turning and trembling and shaking as it became black stones and small patches of grass. The third dragon crawled toward Utopia Ray. The gray warrior readied his hammer.

Seto played the last card in his hand by throwing it to the ground. "I play Stamping Destruction! Say goodbye to your trap card and 500 life points!"

A large, scaly monster hand shot out of Seto's spell card and clutched one of Ichigo's trap cards, crushing it in his hands. The hand retracted into its card as it turned to sand. Ichigo smirked. "I guess I'm screwed."

"Each monster of mine has 3000 attack points! Yeah, you're screwed!" Seto exclaimed. "Attack Utopia Ray and Axe Dragonute!"

Two of the three Blue-Eyes fired white beams of energy from their mouths, instantly turning Ichigo's monsters into sand. Ichigo took another 1500 points of damage.

"Now to put you in your place!" Seto said. "Attack Ichigo directly, Blue-Eyes!"

A white beam of energy fired toward Ichigo. "I activate Magic Cylinder!" Ichigo said, flipping his second trap over. A red cannon absorbed the energy beam and fired it back at Seto, knocking him to the ground for 3000 life points. Seto climbed to his feet, clenching his fists. "You will regret this! I end my turn!" he said painfully.

Zane smirked. "The great Kaiba at 1000 life points in two turns. Pitiful."

Ichigo drew one card. "It ends here," he said, setting one monster face down.

Seto grinned. "It ends for you," he said. "Once I get rid of your face down, you'll take 6000 points of damage from my monsters combined!"

Obelisk Blue erupted into cheer. "Finish him off!" one of his fellow Obelisk Blue classmates shouted.

"Attack Ichigo's face down!" Seto shouted.

The white beam of energy hit the card, making it flip face up. "I activate the effect of Marshmallon!" A small, pudgy, white ball of fluff and fur with bright, blue eyes appeared floating above his card in a white puff of smoke.

Kaiba looked at Marshmallon and started to laugh. "Marshmallon? He's your trump card?"

Marshmallon's aura spiked, shaking the entire gymnasium. His eyes turned blood red as a black ball of energy formed above his head. Ichigo grinned. "Yes," Ichigo said, watching Marshmallon fire the beam into Seto's chest and knocking him down again, fully erasing what was left of Seto's life points.

Seto's jaw dropped, along with the rest of Obelisk Blue as the gym went silent. "I..." Seto stuttered. "Lost?"

Mai ran into the battlefield, gesturing Ichigo and Kaiba to the center of the gym. "Kaiba's life points have been reduced to zero! Ichigo Kurosaki of Slifer Red is the winner!" She raised Ichigo's arm like he won a boxing match.

The gymnasium exploded into applause and cheering. The gym floor changed to its normal state as Ichigo's classmates and teachers descended upon him and Kaiba. "Ichigo," Kaiba said, pushing past a crowd of Obelisk Blue students. "I don't know what god you invoked to beat me, but trust me, it will not happen again."

Ichigo turned to Kaiba, seeing the ugly grimace on his face. "I did not invoke any god," Ichigo said. "I set up my deck to chain itself quickly. I can defeat opponents in under three turns."

"You would have had to," Seto said. "You are nothing," he continued, "and I aim to put you back in your place."

"You want to know something?" Ichigo said, fed up entirely by Kaiba's attitude. "You go around here, treating people like dirt for no freaking reason, yet still have the balls to act like a snob when you're beaten by the very thing you call trash. Maybe I should have thrown the match like I was planning on doing," he said, "because you're delusional."

Kaiba swung his duel disc at Ichigo's head. "I'm the best duelist in the universe!"

Ichigo caught the disc, bending the metal as he gripped it. "No," Ichigo said. "You're not."

"How do you know?" Kaiba shouted. "You're wrong!"

"I know because I am better than you," Ichigo said.

Kaiba spat in Ichigo's face before turning around and stomping out of the gym with Obelisk Blue behind him. Ichigo headed toward the opposite set of doors with Slifer Red as the bell rang. Yusei, Jaden, and Bronk walked next to him. "You gotta show us your deck!" Bronk said. "You used a few cards I hadn't even heard of!"

"It was lucky of you to get that particular chain," Yusei said.

"If I have cards whose effects can be used interchangeably," Ichigo said, stopping in front of his next class, "I can have a multitude of different cards to achieve the same goal." He entered the classroom behind a tall woman in a white shirt and khakis with light skin, long, lavender hair and amber eyes.

She stopped abruptly and whipped around to face him. "Hello! Good afternoon! How are you today? Are you Ichigo Kurosaki? I'm Mrs. Takanabe. I think you'll enjoy this class! You sit next to Alexis!" she said very high, cheery voice.

Ichigo's writing hand throbbed as he tried to keep up with how fast she was talking. He sat down in the front row, next to a tall, shapely girl with long, dark blonde hair and brown eyes wearing the Obelisk Blue uniform. Alexis glanced at Ichigo, quickly grinning and then resuming whatever busied her in her notebook. Ichigo felt a tap on his shoulder from the short, tan-skinned boy with spiky black and red hair behind him. "Hey, do you mind leaning over every once in a while when we take notes?" the boy behind Ichigo said. "You're a lot taller than I am."

Ichigo turned around, seeing the red-eyed boy's annoyance. "Sorry about that," Ichigo said. "I'll see if I can move to a new seat."

The red-eyed boy grinned. "Thanks. By the way, my name's Yuma. Congrats on crushing Kaiba the Jerk at lunch with that number card."

"You know about number cards too?" Ichigo asked.

"I have Number 39: Utopia too," Yuma said, pulling out his deck and showing him his Utopia card. "I run one-turn XYZ's."

"Nice," Ichigo said. "I've got a lot more cards in the bag in my locker, so after school today we should trade."

Yuma turned to the kid next to him, a light-skinned American boy with long, unruly, teal hair and teal eyes. "Jesse, Ichigo and I are gonna trade after school. Tell the other Slifer Red members after class."

"Can do, Yuma," he said in a southern accent. "We'll do trading in the dormitory."

"Do you mind if I get in on that?" a tall, fair-skinned boy with sporadic, dirty blonde hair and brown eyes said with a thick, Brooklyn accent. He wore a yellow jacket indicating his affiliation.

"Joey?" Yuma said. "Wouldn't your dorm kick you out if they caught you trading with us?"

"I'm the best duelist in Ra Yellow," Joey said. "I'm sure they'll let it slide. Besides, I'm trying to build a dragon deck and I bet you that Ichigo has more than one dragon in his deck."

"Alright class," Mrs. Takanabe said. "Today's lesson will be on the origin of thunder-type monsters. Take out your pencils and notebook, because you are going to need them." She started writing on the blackboard faster than anything Ichigo had seen before.

Ichigo scribbled notes as fast as he could, barely finishing before the bell rang. The tip of Ichigo's pencil was literally smoking. "That's never happened before," Alexis said, staring at Ichigo's tip. "I can't say I'm surprised though, it was going to happen anyway."

Ichigo chuckled. "I really hope she isn't like this all year."

"Mrs. Takanabe taught my junior class last year," Alexis said. "Just wait until we review for exams."

"My hand hurts just thinking about it," Ichigo said, making her laugh. "I'll see you tomorrow." He quickly walked toward his next class through the crowds of students, stopping by his locker briefly and moving on. He approached a third flight of stairs going up, feeling a chilling presence at the top. Ichigo became alarmed and continued up the stairs as the presence grew. The deck of cards in his pocket felt like lead as he reached the top, slowly walking down the desolate hallway. Thankfully, he wasn't alone. "Hey, Yugi!" he said, running to catch up with the spiky-haired dueling legend. "What's with this floor? It's so empty. Not even the lights are on."

"The only classroom up here is HAP Shadow Realm studies with Ms. Aaroni," Yugi said in his deep voice. "We opened a portal last week between here and the Shadow Realm and a poltergeist escaped. Ms. Aaroni has been trying to banish it, but it's very strong."

"Really?" Ichigo said slowly, seeing a hulking, black entity dart passed him. Ichigo opened his hand behind him, firing a silent beam of white energy into the poltergeist's chest. Ichigo fazed out, beating the apparition all about the face with a volley of small energy waves. The ghost stared at him in fear as Ichigo's eyes turned blue. Ichigo fazed out again, reappearing at Yugi's side. Yugi was still talking. "Very strong, you say?" Ichigo followed Yugi into the well-lit, small classroom with only three other students. His eyes were immediately drawn to a tall, beautiful young woman with long, wavy green hair, extremely pale skin and glowing, red eyes wearing a yellow jacket. The whites of her red eyes were golden. She stared at Ichigo and licked her lips, subtly revealing her fangs. _Vampire,_ Ichigo thought. A white, magic ball with a black gas inside sit sat on a pedestal on each desk.

Ichigo turned to the teacher's desk, seeing a tall, middle-eastern woman with black hair and brown eyes wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt and a long black skirt with black high heels. A Star of David hung around her neck. Books of Kabbalah and other books on the mystical realm sat on a shelf behind her chair. She started to grin at him but stopped, as if she was expecting something else. "You are Ichigo Kurosaki?" she said in a Persian accent.

He nodded. "Yes."

"You sit next between Camula and Missy in the second row," she said. "May I ask why you come to school so late?"

"I had important personal matters," Ichigo said. "They couldn't be avoided." Ichigo sat down between the vampire and a light-skinned girl of average height with extremely long, wavy red hair with long bangs swept to either side of her face. Her brown eyes glared at Ichigo with disgust.

"Another Slifer Red?" Missy scowled, turning to a girl that looked like she could be Alexis' sister. She was a tad thinner and her hair was up in a bun with two long bangs framing her face. "Can you believe this, Rose?"

"Whatever," Rose said in a Valley Girl accent. "He's probably going to drop the class anyway."

Yugi sat in front of Ichigo. Ms. Aaroni closed the door to her classroom and a purple ring of energy surrounded each desk. "Today we will continue our journey through the third plane of the Shadow Realm. Touch your glass portals."

"These are portals?!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"The only way to study the Shadow Realm is to go inside," Ms. Aaroni said. "All of the monsters you summon come from there. The levels indicated by the number of stars near the top of the card tell you which plane the monster is from. This week, we will explore the third level plane."

"We may get into a fight," Missy said. "According to the fortress warriors in Dnegab, the upper planes have been experiencing civil war between the fiends and warriors. That's why we got our Shadow Realm armor."

"That's no problem," Ms. Aaroni said. "The monsters in the Shadow Realm avoid humans usually, but if we get into a battle, I will defeat whatever threatens my students." She looked at Ichigo directly. "You were not here for the first two weeks, so I would recommend staying close to Camula and Yugi. They will protect you."

Missy and Rose giggled. Camula stared at Ichigo. "Do not fear," she said in a thick, Russian accent. "I will protect you, my damsel in distress."

Missy and Rose burst out laughing. "Enough of that," Ms. Aaroni said. "Place your hands on the orb and we may begin."

Ichigo reluctantly placed his hands on the orb and disappeared. He opened his eyes, shocked at his teacher's change of attire. Ms. Aaroni was now dressed head to toe in gold-plated armor with a steel, curved sword in a sheath at her side. He looked down at himself, cursing himself silently as his Substitute Shinigami badge dangled around his neck. The weight of his Zanpakuto felt like lead on his back, making up for the lightness of his black robes. The strangest part of it all was that the mask Lord Harkon forced upon him was stuck to his face.

The area around him was nothing but thick forests and tall trees, the dense amount of leaves above him nearly blocking out the sun. His classmates appeared, also in armor and prepared for battle. Yugi and Rose were dressed in light, green armor with hard leather shoulder pads and bracers along with pauldrons and hard leather boots. They both had blue cloaks with a golden pyramid emblem on the back. A bow and arrow sheath were slung across Yugi's back while a double-edged spear was carried in Rose's hands.

Camula and Missy appeared seconds later. Camula wore black steel armor with a helm concealing her face. The glow of her eyes could be seen through the helm. Missy wore a lighter, more revealing outfit, consisting of a light, leather chest plate with the top of her cleavage barely exposed and a short, leather skirt and boots. Camula hefted a black, double-sided war axe and Missy had dual maces at her side.

"Sarina Aaroni!" something called out from behind the group. Ichigo turned around, seeing a small, purple portal guarded by four men in white and gold armor. Two of them were huge in stature with helms concealing their faces, standing perfectly still with large, flaming swords. The other two were shorter swordsmen, one with hair and facial features similar to a lion's and the other with long, wavy, blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The lion guard said Ms. Aaroni's name again. "I see you've brought a couple of aspiring duelists again this year."

Ms. Aaroni grinned toward the lion monster. "Lion of the Brotherhood," she said. "How are things near the second plane portal these days?"

"Pretty tame," the lion said. "The Kagemusha have been keeping everything away from the portal lately, so I haven't had any fun."

"I'm sure something will come along eventually," Ms. Aaroni said. "If we're going to get to the fourth plane portal in five days, we should be going."

"Bye, Sarina!" the four monsters said. Ms. Aaroni pointed down the dirt road. "If we move fast enough, we should be able to make it to a resting point from last year's group."

They started walking, listening to their teacher's lecture about the forest around them and the behavior of third plane monsters. An hour went by quickly, and besides for the one bathroom break that ended up in Rose getting chased by a group of angry Marshmallon, the walk was peaceful. The sun started to set and the forest path became darker. A shadowy figure darted between the trees. An unearthly screech teared at the group's ears, bringing them to a halt. "What was that?" Rose said, raising her sphere.

A tall, skeletal creature wearing purple robes and wielding a scythe stood in their path. "It is not yet your time," it hissed. "Return to your world, mortals, unless you wish to be destroyed."

"Step aside," Ms. Aaroni said, drawing her sword. "We have permission to be here."

"You will see us soon," it continued. "The Creator has been chained by his sons, and your world will end!" It raised its scythe and charged.

Yugi shot a volley of arrows at the monster. They all hit it, but it seemed like the torrent barely fazed the skeleton. It continued to charge. Ms. Aaroni extended her palm, firing a white beam of light at the spirit's chest. It screeched again before turning into a pile of bones. "Keep your weapons drawn and stay close," Ms. Aaroni said.

Ichigo drew his Zanpakuto. "Can you even carry that thing?" Camula teased.

Ichigo ignored her and continued walking. As evening progressed, more shadows tailed the group, not acting upon them but just watching from the trees. "Where is this stopping point, Ms. Aaroni?" Yugi asked.

"We still have a far way to go," she said. "Hopefully, my time barrier in the classroom will slow time just enough to where we can make camp and get back to Earth before the hour ends."

The group continued down the path, stopping once again as a red-armored zombie with a bow and arrow hopped off one of the trees. Ichigo turned toward him and extended his arms, impaling the monster on his blade. "Lucky shot," Missy said, walking to a fork in the road. The left path continued farther down the path while the right led to a circular clearing by a river. "Which way do we go?"

"Right," Ms. Aaroni said. "Our campsite is by the river." She briskly walked down the right path with her students and made it into the clearing. A few chests sat by the shore and a small campfire illuminated the area around them; black blood dripped in front of Ms. Aaroni's face, chilling her to the bone.

"You're next!" Two more fiends dropped from the trees, one that was pink and resembled a gargoyle and another with little muscle left on his bones under the heavy, iron armor. The armored fiend raised his sword. "May the new gods take you!" he growled, swinging his sword.

Ichigo's reflexes kicked in, making him faze out and cut him down before he could touch his teacher. "Like, oh my gosh," Rose said. "Did like, anybody else see that?"

"I did," Camula said. "Maybe we underestimated him."

The gargoyle shrieked, cocking its arm back to strike. An axe cut through the top of its head with Camula wielding it. The gargoyle dropped. They looked around the campsite. "We will collect what's in these chests and move on to the next camp site," Ms. Aaroni said.

They opened the chests, retrieving gold and silver pieces. "Everything is clear," Yugi said. "Let's go."

Another horrid shriek from down the left path alerted them. "Is there a way around?" Rose asked.

"No," Ms. Aaroni said. "Stay here. I'll go scout ahead-"

Ichigo and Camula fazed out, charging up the left path and greeting three monsters head on. "Guys! Wait!" Yugi shouted, running after them.

Missy and Rose followed. Ms. Aaroni sighed. "I'm going to get fired."

Ichigo and Camula engaged in battle with three fiends in green robes and gray masks, cutting them down with ease. An arrow whizzed over the top of Camula's head and she shot a bolt of fire in response at the musclebound archer between the trees. Several more fiends made their way out of the trees as a volley of arrows greeted them from above. Yugi and Camula looked up, watching a gray, faceless warrior with yellow chain-mail armor holding a bow with three notched arrows land in front of them, letting a torrent of arrows fly at the group of fiends. He turned around and saluted to the

Shinigami and Vampire as their classmates and teacher ran toward them. "An Achacha Archer!" Ms. Aaroni said.

The archer nodded and pointed far down the left path.

"Thank you for helping us," Ichigo said.

The archer nodded again and ran off, disappearing into the woods.

"Let's get moving," Ms. Aaroni said. "The faster we can make it to the second stopping point, the sooner we can get out of here."

"I know how we can get to the second stopping point in no time at all," Ichigo said, preforming a series of hand signals.

"Ninjutsu?!" Yugi exclaimed. "Who taught you that?!"

"Naruto," Ichigo said. "Kage Bunshin no Justu!" he shouted, creating four clones of himself. "Carry one of them."

His clones nodded.

Ichigo swept Camula off her feet. "I can walk myself," she said.

"Trust me," Ichigo said. "I'm faster than anyone here." Ichigo's clones swept the teacher and the other classmates off their feet as well.

"Wow," Missy giggled, putting her hand on his chest. "You're strong."

"Yeah," Rose said. "He's like, totally cool now."

"Can we get going now?" Yugi said.

"Ms. Aaroni, we'll stop at every deviation in the road," Ichigo said. "Please, hold on."

Ms. Aaroni grabbed Ichigo's shoulders as she rode on his back. Ichigo fazed out, reappearing a mile down the road in under five seconds. Camula's claws dug themselves into Ichigo's shoulders. All of the clones winced simultaneously. "Sorry," Camula said, grabbing Ichigo's arm instead.

Ichigo fazed out again and again, stopping only when a separate path opened in the road. "Stop," Ms. Aaroni said. "Turn right here. We can walk the rest of the distance."

"I actually like this," Missy said.

Ichigo sighed. "Keep carrying Missy."

"And me!" Rose said.

"And Rose," Ichigo added.

Two of the clones disappeared. Ichigo set Camula on her feet. "I'll scout ahead," Ichigo said. He fazed out, with Camula not too far behind. They approached the next campsite and dived into the woods, seeing a ghoulish dragon with tattered wings with its fiendish masters looting the chests and tents. One of the masters, a tall, pale, skinny Vampire with white hair and blood red eyes sniffed into the air.

"Humans," the Vampire's purple, gorgon companion snarled, turning toward Ichigo's position in the woods. "Find them, Alucard! Slay them!"

"Do I smell that bad?" Ichigo whispered.

"No," Camula said. "You smell delicious."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Ichigo said. "Let's take them out."

Ichigo and Camula darted from the bushes and tore through the gorgon. "Krii Lun Aus!" Ichigo shouted, halting the dragon and turning the Vampire into dust. He hopped in front of the dragon and sheathed his blade.

"What are you doing?" Camula said. "Destroy it!"

"Drem yol lok. Zu'u los Dovahkiin." As Ichigo said the last word, the forest shook. He stared into the mouth of the dragon, at all eight rows of black, decaying teeth. "Hi fen lif jul het enarah. Hi fen fun vorey dovah tol Zu'u lost meyz."

The dragon scampered back. "Dovahkiin!" it shrieked, bursting into the air to follow Ichigo's orders.

Camula stared at him in curiosity. "Just what exactly are you?"

"Dovahkiin," Ichigo said. "Dragonborn, Shinigami."

Ms. Aaroni and the other students caught up to the two scouts. Yugi looked at the Vampire dust and the pieces of gorgon. "I'm guessing you two did this?"

Ichigo flicked the blood off his blade and sheathed his sword. "Can we go home now?"

"Yes," Ms. Aaroni said. "Repeat the spell after me."

They closed their eyes and started chanting a magic spell. When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves in the classroom. The bell rang on their arrival.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Ms. Aaroni said. "Events like these don't usually happen."

Ichigo and Yugi reached the door first. Yugi went ahead. "I'll see you later, Ichigo."

"So will we," Missy said, handing Ichigo a folded slip of paper.

The three girls ran down the stairs. Ichigo looked at the corner near the stairway, seeing a scared poltergeist huddled in the fetal position in the corner. It looked at Ichigo and quivered. "Toward the light," Ichigo said. "I'm not in my Shinigami form, so I can't help you."

He opened the slip of paper, seeing three different cell phone numbers. He pulled out his own phone and entered the numbers in as contacts. "Only for emergencies," he said. He scrolled down his contact list, seeing the names of all his friends from Karakura; he saw his own house number and his dad's work phone. Ichigo frowned as homesickness overcame him. "I haven't seen any of them in forever," he said, stuffing his phone back into his pocket and pulling his bag of belongings out of his locker. He walked out of the school and back into the courtyard of all three dorms.

"Hi, Ichigo!" Missy and Rose called our from one of the windows of the Obelisk Blue dorm. "Missing us yet?"

Ichigo smirked. "Bye, ladies." He walked up the steps to Slifer Red and opened the doors, heading in and finally ending his long, exhausting day.

**Yeah, I know, too long. WILL NOT happen in the future.**


	4. The Spirit Detective

**I own nothing.**

Yusuke had dozed off in the ship while resting his eyes. He looked outside the glass windows, seeing the dark, gray skies of England. Heavy rain pelted the ship as thunder stormed overhead . Tall, thick, green forest surrounded the ship on all sides, making the forest dark and gloomy. He grabbed his belongings and stepped out in the blue and teal outfit from Arulok. Nearly instantly, his perfectly shaped, greased hair had flattened to his head and face. He pushed the hair out of his face, his eyes widening as a hulking, black creature on four legs shot across the woods, disappearing into the trees. He closed his eyes, seeing a large, muscular wolf or bear rocketing through the forest faster than Yusuke could keep up with. "I'd better get out of the woods," he said.

He fazed out, racing through the trees faster than lightning. Black eyes watched Yusuke from the bushes, snarling as he passed.

Yusuke cleared the woods, dashing through the muddy grass. He approached a quiet, empty highway overpass with a green sign labeled A616. He quickly looked behind him, seeing the same black creature in the forest charging toward him. When he looked forward again, a tall, ghostly monk in a black robe placed his hand on his shoulder. "Run."

"Thanks, ghost guy!" Yusuke said, leaping over the road and past a group of spectral children playing tag. "Hey kids."

The ghost children stared at him like he had three heads. The beast leaped over the road, quickly catching up to Yusuke.

"What is this thing?!" Yusuke flipped back, barely dodging a blur of claws.

The beast whipped around and slammed into Yusuke with enough force to knock the breath out of the superhuman warrior. Yusuke's arms were pinned by the snarling, growling animal;s paws. Yusuke looked at the wolf, now that it wasn't running, and sent his knee into the wolf's stomach. The wolf yelped in pain and leaped back, growling in anger. Yusuke hopped to his feet, throwing his bag behind him.

He pointed his finger at the monster. "Spirit Gun!" he shouted, firing a white beam of energy at the large wolf.

The wolf dodged and charged again. Yusuke hopped out of the way but took a claw to his shoulder, tearing through the shirt and cutting through the flesh.

"Damn it!" Yusuke said. "How are you so fast?!"

Yusuke kicked it in the chin but the monster didn't seem fazed as it tackled him again. Yusuke's eyes widened in terror as the wolf went in for the killing bite. Yusuke slipped his hand out from under the wolf's paw and punched it in the face. The wolf reared back and tried biting Yusuke's neck again. Yusuke held his arm up, screaming in pain as it bit his arm. Yusuke's aura spiked and he slipped his other arm out. He pried the wolf's bottom jaw from his arm.

"Get off of me!" Yusuke barked, grabbing it by the snout and throwing it off of him. Yusuke hopped to his feet, ignoring the pain in his arm. Yusuke charged toward the wolf, throwing powerful punches into its body. "Spirit Punch!" Yusuke exclaimed, throwing a fist with white chi surrounding it into the wolf's snout, knocking it to the ground. "Nobody messes with Yusuke Urameshi!"

The wolf stared at him and whimpered. Its stomach growled and it shuddered from the pain in its stomach.

Yusuke wanted to leave the situation, but thanks to his teacher, he would do something else. A golden aura surrounded Yusuke's hand. The wolf shut its eyes, waiting for the end but instead felt the pain in his stomach leave. The wolf looked at Yusuke again and slowly rose to its feet. "Don't look at me like that," Yusuke said. "You tried to eat me and I kicked your ass. We're still enemies."

Yusuke picked up his bag and started walking back toward the overpass. The wolf followed him, sniffing his bag.

"No!" Yusuke said. "Get away!" He looked at the wolf and kicked himself as he gave in to the puppy face. "Fine. Fine. Have my alien beef jerky that you can only get on Arulok." He set his bag down and opened it, pulling out a box with thick, purple jerky in it. He opened it, shedding a tear as the wolf ravenously scarfed it down. "There; you happy now?"

The wolf licked his face. Yusuke quickly turned back to the road, seeing a green minivan race toward the bypass. The driver saw Yusuke and slowed down, rolling down the window. "Hey, guy! You and your dog need a ride? You look lost!" a short, bald chubby man with a gray goatee said.

"If you could take me to the Bell Hotel, that would be very nice," Yusuke said. "And he is not my dog."

The man rolled his eyes. "You're one of those Canine Brit blokes, eh? Get in."

Yusuke opened the side door and yelped as the wolf threw himself inside, squishing Yusuke up against the opposite window. "I hate this freaking thing," he muttered under his own breath. The side door closed and Yusuke sat in the passenger seat. The wolf sat in the seat next to him, happily licking the side of his face. "Could you not?!" he shouted, making the driver pop up in his seat. "Sorry," Yusuke said quickly. "I just didn't want him to lick me."

"My Great Dane does the same thing," the driver said. He glanced at Yusuke's bitten arm through the rear view mirror. "Good lord! What happened to your arm?"

"He bit me," he said, pointing at the wolf.

"Ah, I see," the driver said. "Played with him a bit too rough, yeah?"

"I guess you can say that," Yusuke said. "By the way, thanks for giving me a lift."

"No problem," he said. "I'm driving across the country anyway." His left hand reached toward the radio knob. "Music?"

"Sure," Yusuke said. He glanced at his arm and nearly jumped out of his seat. The bite mark was already scarring as the bleeding stopped. The wound closed.

The driver didn't notice and turned the radio up. He smiled as "Werewolves of London" started playing. "I hope you don't mind," he said, turning the radio up even more. "I like this song."

Yusuke looked at the wolf, seeing its eyes flash red. "Fuck," he said under his breath. He cleared his throat. "You can let me off here."

"I thought you wanted me to take you to-"

"Please, stop the car," Yusuke said.

"Have it your way," the driver said. He stopped the car, letting Yusuke and the wolf out. "Just continue down the road and take a right when you reach Norfolk Road," he said. "I've been there plenty of times, and you'll know when you see it."

"Thank you," Yusuke said. He fazed out, with the wolf not too far behind.

"A g-ghost?!" the driver said. "I saw a ghost?!"

Yusuke and the wolf ran along the highway for thirty miles and took the exit to Norfolk Road, turning right and seeing a small, very old, inn built out of stone but reinforced with cement; the stone could barely be seen behind the cement coating, and the two story building was kept standing by wooden pillars. Yusuke looked behind him, seeing the wolf growling toward the building. "If you don't like it, go home."

The wolf grunted and pushed past the Spirit Detective, heading in anyway. Yusuke approached the door to the inn and looked up at the sign hanging overhead. He was startled after reading "Leave THEM outside!" on the post but continued, seeing the wolf crouched down and growling at a tall, curvaceous woman in a white, buttoned blouse and blue jeans with pale skin and bright green, long hair. Her red eyes glared at the wolf.

Yusuke grinned as he placed his hand on the wolf's head, realizing that he had found his SHIELD agent, Morrigan. "Sorry about that," Yusuke said. "My dog ran too far ahead of me."

"Then you should be keeping him on a leash," the innkeeper said; he was a short, stout man with a pale face and a scab over one eye. His face was covered in pimples and his lips cracked with such brittleness that dead skin was falling off in flakes. "What do ya want?"

"I'd like a room please," Yusuke said. "Just for the night."

"That'll be seventy five pounds when ya check out," the innkeeper said. "Fifty plus the pet fee." He tossed him a yellow key. "Room 2C."

"Thanks," Yusuke said. He turned to Morrigan and her cat-like friend, a tall, athletic peach-skinned girl with long, wavy blue hair and teal eyes. Her feet were quite strange as they took on the shape of a cat's paw. "Morrigan, right?" he said, seeing through her disguise. He saw two bat wings on the side of her head and two large wings on her back.

"You've heard of me?" Morrigan said with a light, Scottish accent.

"I've been looking for you," Yusuke said.

"So have many others," she said. "Why don't you let Felicia and me in your room later on tonight and we can get down to business."

"Good idea," Yusuke said.

"You have no idea what you're getting into," Felicia said in an American accent. "It will be fun while you last!"

Yusuke smirked. "I don't know what you've been told, but I can handle pretty much anything."

"Don't say we warned you," Morrigan said. "See you at midnight."

Yusuke walked upstairs with the wolf behind him. He entered his small hotel room and locked the door behind him, closing the blinds and laying on the bed. "I'll just rest my eyes for a bit and-"

The cold temperature awoke Yusuke sixteen hours later. He looked toward the foot of the bed, seeing a headless woman dressed in Victorian-era clothing. Her head was held under its arm and it scowled at Ichigo.

"Do your routine or let me sleep," Yusuke said, used to seeing ghosts in his job regularly.

"Get out!" the head screamed.

"You get out!" Yusuke shouted back. "I paid for this room!"

"Heed my warning!" the ghost shouted, pointing at Yusuke.

"Do you want my spirit foot up your ass?" Yusuke said.

"Get out!" the ghost shouted again.

Yusuke climbed out of bed and opened the window. He grabbed her head and whipped it out of the room, sending it rocketing into the night sky. The body jumped out, running to catch it. He turned around to a knock at the door. "It's us," Morrigan said sultrily.

Yusuke opened the door. "Come in," he said.

The wolf growled at Morrigan and crouched down to attack.

"It's okay, boy!" Yusuke said, sitting on the side of the bed. "Let's talk about the balls."

Morrigan licked her lips as she started unbuttoning her blouse.

"What are you doing?" Yusuke asked.

"Just getting comfortable," Morrigan said.

"Are you sure you know who I am?" Yusuke asked, reaching inside his shirt for his SHIELD badge. He whipped the badge out, striking fear into Felicia and Morrigan's faces. "Yusuke Urameshi! Spirit Detective and-"

Morrigan's eyes turned black as her wings pushed out of her blouse and head. "Set up!" she hissed. "This was a set up! Run, Felicia!"

"Uh-oh!" Felicia said, hopping out of the window.

"What?" Yusuke said, turning the badge around and realizing that he had pulled out the wrong badge. Morrigan flew out the window with lightning speed. "Wait! Come back! We need to stay together!" He hopped out of the window and started running after them.

The wolf followed him.

Yusuke looked at the wolf and his eyes widened. "Can you track her smell?"

The wolf howled and ran ahead.

"I'll take that as a yes." Yusuke followed the wolf for half an hour until it stopped at an old Roman fort with a set of towers connected by a thin arch covered on one side by a wall ending in a peak. Morrigan and Felicia sat on the top of each tower guarded by a black gargoyle with no face.

"You're persistent," Morrigan said. "Absaphael, Meretok, destroy him!"

Morrigan and Felicia disappeared again as the gargoyles dived off the towers.

The wolf leaped into the air, chopping a gargoyle's head off with one fell swipe. Yusuke pierced the other gargoyle's head with an energy beam and hopped over its flailing body. Yusuke and the wolf fazed out again, continuing the chase to a hill fort surrounded by dirt roads in rings that hadn't been used in hundreds of years. Morrigan and Felicia flew up to the top of the hill.

"Shit like this is why I don't go to England often," Yusuke said, dodging a spectral arrow from the archers on the top of the hill fort. Swordsmen on horses charged from the top of the hill toward the Germanic warriors trying to take the fort. Yusuke and the wolf rushed up the hill and into the fort, cutting through a horde of skeletal Romans. "Morrigan!" he shouted, seeing her run out into the countryside with Felicia close behind. "Wait!"

The wolf leaped down the hill with Yusuke close behind, chasing Morrigan to a cemetery. When they had reached the entrance, Morrigan and Felicia were already at the other end. "There they are!" Felicia shouted.

Morrigan cast a spell on the cemetery, surrounding each tombstone in a pink aura. The dirt started to shift as blackened, decaying hands emerged from the graves. The cemetery was soon filled with the sounds of hundreds of groans as the rotting bodies of the deceased rose from their eternal resting places.

Morrigan smirked at Yusuke and vanished with Felicia.

Yusuke's aura spiked as his anger came to a peak. "Damn it!" he roared, leveling the zombie horde with an explosive barrier of white energy all around him and the wolf. He fazed out again, leaving a trail of white energy behind him. This time, the wolf struggled to keep up. The chase continued for another hour with Morrigan leading Yusuke through a village inhabited by demons. The wolf clawed through a shadowy entity and continued the chase for another hour.

"I'm getting tired of this, Morrigan!" Yusuke shouted, watching Morrigan fly into the window of a white castle over a lake in the middle of a flat land with seemingly nothing but grass. Yusuke blindly followed, leaping into the window as well. He looked around the lively dining hall he jumped into, seeing several bloody carcasses sprawled out across the table. A group of eight golden-eyed vampires wearing medieval clothing stopped their meal to view the fresh meat. The vampire at the head of the table had brown hair, brown eyes and wore a crown.

"Look at what we have here," one tall, lanky vampire said.

"Food!" a short, muscular one said.

Yusuke looked outside. "Stay put!" he told the wolf. He turned back to the group of vampires. "I'm not here to be eaten," he said. "Did any of you see a woman with green hair and bat wings in here?"

"We might have," a vampire in knight armor said. "Check in the kitchen."

The vampires closed in on him.

"Don't make me hurt you," Yusuke said. "I've dealt with vampires before."

"But have you dealt with eight of them?" a second knight said.

"No," Yusuke said, spiking his aura again. "They usually run away."

"We're not the pansy butterheads you usually fight," a third knight said.

"Lay down on the table and avoid Nagasaki part two," the king said calmly.

The other two vampires, both bards in tights with lutes, set their instruments down and laughed at Yusuke's offense.

"I'm going to beat you until you taste pennies," Yusuke said, cutting a bard in half with a spirit gun. He ripped a chunk of wood out of the table and stuck it in the screaming vampire's heart. He kicked upward, lighting him on fire with the bending Aang had taught him.

"Kill him," the king said, sipping from his chalice of blood.

The six other vampires turned into a green fog, locking Yusuke inside a dome. Yusuke let his aura explode, pushing the vampires all the way to the ceiling and walls. "I can keep this up for a while," Yusuke said. "Stop fighting like wimps."

The vampires reverted to their human form as the barrier faded. Yusuke dodged a volley of claw swipes and punched forward with a fiery fist, blowing a knight into the wall. Yusuke grabbed a second chunk of wood and whipped it into the air, impaling the knight's flaming heart with deadly accuracy. Yusuke sent a flaming roundhouse kick toward the last bard, lighting it on fire and knocking the screaming, flailing demon to the ground. He whipped around, blowing another knight through the table with a single punch. Wood chips covered the floor, allowing Yusuke to stake the bard.

He turned to the other five vampires. "I'm starting to feel sorry for you," he said. "Tell me where the girls are and I won't kill you."

The remaining knights charged.

"You asked for it," Yusuke said, surrounding his fist in white energy and fire. "Spirit Shotgun!" he exclaimed, blowing the five vampires into the back wall. Every vampire except the king burned due to the holy fire and were staked by flying spikes of wood.

The king fell to his feet. "You have angered me."

"I'd be surprised if you weren't," Yusuke said.

"You spirited little imp!" the king barked, charging toward Yusuke.

Yusuke hopped into the air, kicking the king into the ceiling with a fiery kick. A stake followed after, pinning the king forever into the ceiling. Yusuke peaked out the window and beckoned the wolf to follow.

The wolf leaped inside with great agility and speed. He sniffed into the air and headed through an open door, going down a flight of stairs and through an archway leading to the kitchen. A one-armed, one-eyed cook rotated Morrigan and Felicia over a fire. Morrigan's gagged face filled with terror at Yusuke's sight. Her eyes glanced at another doorway. Yusuke held up his palm and lit the vampire cook on fire. He stomped the wooden floor, crushing the boards beneath his feet. He picked up a stake and grabbed the cook by the throat, immune to his own fire, and staked him to a wall.

He took the gags out of the girls' mouths. Felicia cried out in despair. "This is it! We're done for! Sensui sent his boys to find us and they did! My career as a singer is over! What will my fans think!"

"Stop it!" Yusuke snapped. "I'm not here to kill you or take you to King Yenma's court."

He pulled out his SHIELD badge, making Morrigan's jaw drop. "No way."

"I was as surprised as you were," Yusuke said, lifting the metal rod turning the girls out of the way of the flames.

"What's going on?" Felicia asked.

"Morrigan and I are supposed to search the United Kingdom for the Dragonball," Yusuke said. He untied them and headed toward the tall, wooden doors of the entrance. He hopped down a flight of stairs and pushed the doors open, heading over an archway and walking down a dirt path.

The wolf walked next to him.

Yusuke rubbed the wolf's head. "Good boy. I'm starting to like you." He turned around, seeing Morrigan and Felicia still at the entrance. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know if we can trust you," Morrigan said. "You're a Spirit Detective and we're demons. Working together can't be good."

"Do you want legions of undead reigning terror across the universe?" Yusuke said. "I'm not sure about trusting you two either, but finding the Dragonballs and restoring balance is a lot more important than our differences."

"You're right," Morrigan said reluctantly; they ran across the arch to catch up with him. "But once this is over, don't be surprised if we never meet again."

"I would think as much," Yusuke said. "I don't visit England very often; where do you think we should start searching?"

"I actually have a guy on a lead now," Morrigan said. She pulled out a walkie talkie . "Adam, how is it coming?"

Static crackled on the two-way radio. "Not too well," a deep, rough voice said. "If it wasn't for my creator bestowing upon me terrible strength and swiftness, perhaps I wouldn't have been capable of eloping my pursuer."

"Franky!" Felicia exclaimed. "What's happening?"

"Jack the Ripper at Renault Insane Asylum," Adam said on the other line. "Armed with power saws."

"We'll be right there, sweetie-honey-cake-pie-scrump-a-dumpling!" Felicia said, grabbing Morrigan by the hand and fazing out as she raced toward the rectory. "Guys! My boyfriend is in trouble!"

Yusuke and the wolf followed them to a small, cubic building painted yellow with soft padding on the outside. The doors burst open and a hulking man with yellow skin scarcely covering the work of muscles and arteries beneath flew out, landing on his back in the mud. His hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth was of a pearly whiteness; but these features only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes that seemed almost of the same color as the white sockets in which they were set, his dried-up skin color and straight, black lips.

His attacker walked out in a tattered straightjacket with a chainsaw in each hand. His skin and hair was as pale as the moon and he smelled of rot as his decaying lips cracked. "You are the infamous Frankenstein's monster?" he said, letting out a wheezy laugh. "You are as fast as Victor's words in Walton's letters say you are, but unless you can get past my saws, you're done for."

"You leave Adam alone, Jack!" Felicia shouted, running to tend to her monstrous significant other.

Yusuke stepped in between Jack and Adam. "I'll take over from here," he said. "I haven't fought a ghoul in a while."

"Who in the devil are you?" Jack asked, revving his chainsaws.

"I'm tired of introducing myself," Yusuke said. "You can ask King Yenma." Yusuke fired a quick burst of chi blasts, knocking the saws out of Jack's hands.

"Prepare to die, human!" Jack snarled.

Jack and Yusuke clashed, the latter quickly overwhelming his opponent due to his martial prowess. Yusuke snapped Jack's leg and arms and smashed his foot into Jack's skull as he laid on the ground, ending the ghoul's life.

Yusuke offered his hand to Adam, who just glared at him. "A human who doesn't berate me on sight?"

"I have weirder friends," Yusuke said, pulling Adam to his feet. "I'm Yusuke."

Adam grinned. "I'm Adam," he responded. "You are to aid us in the search for the Dragonball?"

"Sadly, yes," Morrigan said. "Nick Fury has given us a report on major psychic happenings near Windsor. We'll check there first."

The five supernaturals disappeared from the asylum. "Hey, guys," Yusuke said, "I should probably get my stuff from the hotel. I don't like the innkeeper."


	5. The Savior of Peace

**I own nothing**

If he wasn't watching his steering, he would have crushed a group of tourists taking a picture in front of the humongous dome with a set of double doors shaped like a red and white ball with a gray circle where the red and white halves intersect. Instead, his ship photobombed them and crashed into the cobblestone road. The tourists quickly turned around, gasping and screaming in German. The Avatar shakily opened the glass panel and stepped out into sunny Santalune in full armor and mask with his dragon carrying the bag of his belongings between his teeth.

"Sorry," Aang said to the ring of terrified tourists. "I have trouble landing sometimes."

A few of the tourists fled the area while others started taking pictures.

He looked around and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small French dictionary Edward had given to him and flipping through a few pages. "Est-ce que quelqu'un sait où est la salle de gym Santalune?" he said with little difficulty. "Where is the gym in Santalune?"

One tourist pointed to the large dome behind Aang.

"Merci," Aang said. "This way, Icarus."

The menacing dragon followed him to the doors to the gym.

Aang looked up. "Wow," he gasped at the size of it. "People get to work here every day!"

"I know, right?" a tall, slender man with tan skin, spiky brown hair, and eyes that appeared naturally closed said. He wore an orange shirt with a green vest over it, along with a pair of reddish-brown pants. "I hear that the gym leader's beautiful too like most women in France." He sighed. "But sadly, none of them compare to Officer Jenny or Nurse Joy."

"Who are you?" Aang said, slightly put off by the young man's topic of choice. "My name is Aang."

"My name is Brock," he said. "I train mainly rock-type Pokemon. I assume you like dragon types?"

Aang and Icarus looked at each other. "There are types?"

Brock laughed. "Good one," he said. "What others do you have?"

"I just have Icarus," Aang said. "I don't know if I need another one."

"You're new to the game, I see," Brock said. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small, red and white ball with a gray circle placed directly where the red and white halves intersect. "Here's a Pokeball." He tossed him the ball.

Aang pressed down on the gray circle, surprised as it popped open. A red light formed in the center of the inside of the ball and Aang closed it again. "What is this for?"

"Wow, you're really new!" Brock exclaimed. "Maybe I can show you some moves when Ash says it's okay to go in."

"Ash is here?" Aang said. "I haven't seen him in a long time."

"You've met Ash?" Brock said.

"Yeah," Aang said. "He was at the Budokai Tenkaichi."

A hatch above the door of the gym slid open and a short, skinny teen with tan skin and spiky black hair under a red and white baseball cap flew out, flailing in the air. His Pokemon, a yellow rodent the size of Ash's head with red circles on its cheeks and brown horizontal stripes on its back flew out soon after. Its tail was shaped like a lightning bolt. "Pika pika!" it shouted.

Aang looked up and jumped, catching Ash and his Pokemon in mid-air. Ash's brown eyes widened. "Aang? What are you doing here?"

Aang set Ash and his Pokemon down. "I came here to meet Viola."

"Same," Ash said. "We need seven badges to get in."

"We have to beat seven gym leaders?!" Brock exclaimed. "That could take us days to get to all the gyms!"

"Actually, Icarus flies up to one thousand miles per hour," Aang said. "It shouldn't take us very long."

Icarus flattened his tail to the ground and spread his wings.

"Get on," Aang said, hopping onto Icarus' neck.

Ash pumped his fists into the air. "Woohoo! C'mon, Pikachu!"

"Pika pika!" Pikachu said, climbing onto Icarus' back and onto Ash's shoulder.

Brock carefully made his way to the lower end of Icarus' spine before he shot into the air. Brock screamed. "Wait! I wasn't ready!"

"This is amazing!" Ash shouted. "Where did you find him, Aang?"

"Sifu Goku did," Aang said, "on the icy planet of Arulok."

"Arulok?" Ash said. "You went into space? A lot must have happened since the tournament."

"It's a _long_ story," Aang said, approaching a building that looked like a smaller Eiffel Tower with a Pokeball design near the top.

"There's another gym!" Brock said. "Let's land now!"

Icarus rocketed toward the ground, flapping his wings once to prevent him from nosediving into the pavement. He landed in front of the tower and let his passengers off.

"That was fast!" Ash said, straightening his hat. He ran toward the doors at the base of the tower gym. "Let's go inside!"

"Hold on, Ash!" Brock said shakily, stumbling toward the doors. Aang and Ash walked into the gym; red and white practice mats laid all over the white floor. Bright lights illuminated the room from the ceiling and windows near the top of the tower let the bright sun shine through.

"There are a lot of people in here," Aang said. "How do we know who the gym leader is?"

"Like this," Ash said, taking a deep breath. "We wish to challenge the gym leader!"

The gym went silent as all eyes fell on Aang and Ash.

"Little Samurai and his fair maiden wish to battle Wulfric?" a tall, lanky Frenchman said. "Ho ho! You two stand no chance!"

"You don't know that," Ash said. "Nor do you know me."

"And who are you?" the snobby Frenchman said.

"Ash Ketchum from Pallet town," Ash said confidently. "I'm going to be the best Pokemon Master the world has ever seen!"

"Are you now?" a man with a Nordic accent said. A path cleared for the gym leader, a tall, husky man with white hair and a short white beard. His blue eyes stared at the three young men in front of him. "Very well. Who would like to challenge me first?"

"I'll go," Ash said.

"Wait," Aang said.

Icarus dropped Aang's bag.

"Icarus would like to go first," Aang said.

"But Aang," Ash said. "I wanted to-"

"Letting your Pokemon choose?" Wulfric said, pulling out a Pokeball. "That's honorable, but if that's your only Pokemon, it won't help you."

Wulfric walked to the opposite end of the gym and opened the Pokeball. A red light shot from the ball and took the form of a tall, hulking being with white fur and pale-green paws. It let out a roar; and slammed its paws on the ground.

"Meet my Abomasnow," Wulfric said. "We will kick things off."

All of the other Pokemon trainers moved back, giving Icarus and Abomasnow as much room as possible.

"Use Ice Beam!" Wulfric ordered, making his Pokemon blow out a concentrated beam of frost. "I'll end this in one move!"

"Fus," Aang said.

Blue energy swelled in the back of Icarus' throat, turning his scales white. "Fus Ro Dah!" he barked, countering the cold with a ring of blue energy and blasting Abomasnow all the way into the wall behind Wulfric with the impact.

Abomasnow fell to the ground. Wulfric ran to check on him. "Unconscious?!"

The crowd of trainers gasped.

Wulfric tapped the Pokeball on Abomasnow's head. The ball opened and sucked the Pokemon inside. He turned to Aang and tossed him a star-shaped badge. "I cannot believe that you were able to one-shot my Abomasnow! I fear for the other gym leaders!"

Aang bowed quickly and hopped back on Icarus. "Thank you."

Ash and Brock hopped on Icarus' back and shot out of the building, soaring into the sky. Aang handed the badge to Ash. "I can't accept this," he said. "You beat the gym leader."

"Icarus can channel enough power to knock down a building," Aang said. "It's not fair to everyone else."

"Well, alright," Ash said reluctantly, taking the badge. "I'll win the rest of the badges."

"Deal," Aang said.

"Who the heck are they?" Brock shouted, pointing at a group of four people floating in the air with red ribbon emblems on their shirts.

One caught Aang's eye; a short, spherical man with spindly arms and legs with black eyes and a bony material covering her face indicated trouble. "Ash, take Icarus and Brock and leave."

"Who are they?" Ash asked.

"I don't know," Aang said, "but I have the strangest feeling that the tall one with the red Mohawk is going to say that he wants the Avatar to come with-"

"Avatar Aang," the tall, redhead with blue eyes and green armor over a black jumpsuit said in a deep, monotonous voice. "16" was printed on his armor in black ink. "Come with us."

Aang sighed. "And so it begins." He floated in the air and drew his sword as the scrawny, pale adolescent with long, spiky black hair and black eyes shifted his hand into a blade.

The leader of the four, a large, peach-skinned man with an unusually angular face and long, wavy orange hair dressed in magnificent green robes with a white collar and brown beads in a necklace ending in a red, heart pendant, held out his hand. "Please," he said in a calm voice. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be."

"Are you going to tell me who you are?" Aang said, spiking his aura. He fell into a fighting stance, alarming the four.

The man with the Mohawk glared at him. His eyes turned red. "That stance belongs to Goku. Where did you acquire the knowledge of it?"

"Why do you want to know?" Aang asked.

"Because I am here to terminate him," he said, "and the Avatar."

"Icarus!" Aang said. "Take them to the next gym!"

Icarus fazed out.

"You won't touch my friends until you get through me," Aang said.

"Foolish child," the boy with the long black hair said. "We already have men tracking your friends as we speak."

"After I beat you," Aang said. "I'll warn the others."

"Verona," the man with the long orange hair said. "Eliminate him."

The round man charged with his katana and clashed with Aang in a flurry of Dragonbone and steel. Aang dodged a downward strike and brought his sword down on Verona's arms, chopping them off. Aang sheathed his sword. "I'll give you one last warning," Aang said. "Leave us alone or be destroyed."

"Envy, kill Verona," the man with the Mohawk said.

The boy fazed out, beheading Verona and appearing behind Aang. "One shot!" he said in a raspy voice. "All I need is one shot!"

Aang whipped around, slamming a heel kick enhanced with wind into Envy's head. The other two charged. "Ven Nah Kest!" Aang shouted, creating a mid-air tornado to whip Envy into the ground fifty feet below, knocking him out as soon as he hit the ground

Aang spiked his aura again as the two redheads flew around him, neither wanting to attack. The one with the Mohawk struck first. He ripped his hand from his arm, revealing the circuitry underneath. The hand curled into a fist and burst toward Aang.

"A robot?" Aang said, catching the fist like a football and throwing it back at its owner.

The hand reattached to the arm like a magnet. "An android," the man with the rocket hand said. "Android number sixteen."

Android 16 and Aang clashed in a furious exchange of blows, creating shock waves with the impacts.

"Hoteye," Android 16 said. "Use your magic."

Hoteye raised his hands into the air, pulling two large pillars of viscous mud from the ground. "Liquid Ground!" he exclaimed, throwing the two pillars at Aang.

Aang kicked Android 16 in the chin and flipped back, watching as 16 coiled back from hot mud slamming into his chest. Aang fazed out, reappearing behind Hoteye with a blue ball of energy growing between his hands. "Kamehameha!"

Hoteye yelped as the wave of energy slammed into his back, forcing him on the same path that Android 16 was currently traveling.

Aang panted in exhaustion. "I have to warn the others." He closed his eyes. "Everyone's too far," he said. "Hopefully they can handle it." He saw Icarus' chi outline and fazed out, reappearing on his dragon.

"You're back," Brock said. "So who were those guys?"

"I don't know," Aang said, "but if we see them again, we need to run."

"While you were gone, I got these." Ash reached into his pocket, pulling out six more badges.

"Seven already?" Aang said. "You work fast!"

"Pikachu and I make a great team," Ash said.

"Let's get back to Santalune," Brock said.

They returned to the gym and walked into the thin, dark hallway with two muscular bouncers outside the set of brown double doors. "We told you before," they said. "Unless you have seven badges, you can't-"

Ash held all seven badges in his hand. "Let us in now, please."

The bouncers shrugged and opened the doors. "Alright."

The three young men walked into a large, nearly void arena with a light-colored dirt floor with white boundary lines. The only light filling the room was the sun from outside. "Talk about elite," Brock said. "There's no one here."

"Drop on them, Spinarak," a regal, French woman said from above them.

Aang looked up, seeing a giant green spider fall from the ceiling. He tackled Ash and Brock. "Icarus! Get back!"

Icarus hopped back as the horned, yellow-legged spider landed in front of the three boys. Riding the spider was a light-skinned woman of average height and slender build with dark green eyes, thin eyebrows, and long, dirty blonde hair that stopped just at her shoulders in a curl. Her hair framed her face with two long, curly strands. "I see you've made it this far," she said. "I am Viola, the gym leader in Santalune. Who wants to battle?"

Ash raised his hand while Brock drooled. "I wish to battle!"

"I'll use my Spinarak," Viola said. "I assume the Doragon is yours, yes?"

"No," Aang said, thinking she said "dragon". "He's mine."

"Well," Viola said, sounding slightly disappointed. "Alright."

"I'll start," Ash said.

Viola hopped off of Spinarak's back.

"Pikachu! Use thunderbolt!" Ash ordered.

"Pika..." Pikachu said, spiking electricity around his cheeks. "Chu!" he shouted, firing a beam of yellow electricity at the giant spider.

"Spinarak! Use Shadow Sneak!" Viola countered.

Spinarak disappeared, leaving only its shadow. The thunderbolt flew over Viola's head. The shadow of Spinarak scuttled behind Pikachu. The ground started to shake. Ash's eyes widened. "Pikachu! Jump!"

"Spinarak! Use Constrict!" Viola exclaimed.

Spinarak shot out of the ground, trapping Pikachu in a web. Ash's jaw hit the floor.

"Pikachu is unable to move," she said. "Therefore, I win. Good day."

Ash removed Pikachu from the webs. "I want a rematch!"

"You're going to have to become a lot better before we duel again," Viola said sternly. "Good day."

Aang pulled out his SHIELD badge. "Maybe you two can spar while we're searching."

Viola's face lit up. "You are the Avatar, correct?"

"Yes," Aang said.

"I remember hearing about you when I was in China," she said. "I have some interesting tales myself, so while we're on the road, we should exchange stories."

"What are we looking for?" Ash asked.

"The Dragonball," Aang said.

"Why are you looking for the Dragonballs?" Brock asked. "What's going on?"

"We'll fill you in later," Aang said. "Let's get moving! Get back on Icarus and-"

"No need," Viola said. She clapped her hands twice, and the bouncers appeared in the room almost instantly.

"Yes, Miss Viola?" they said simultaneously.

"Bring the truck out of parking," Viola said. "We're going on a long road trip."

They nodded, disappearing to do her bidding as quickly as they came.

"Put your Pokemon away, kids," Viola said. "We're leaving immediately."

Ash sighed. "This is _not_ what I came here for."

**Sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted to get this out before school started again. This will be the only Aang chapter for a while, because I realized that this was a lot more boring than other universe mash-ups. **


End file.
